Old men making sexual comments of young girls unacceptable – Gender activists

Women activists who are into activism against gender-based violence have raised the redflag against the manner in which older men make sexual comments about the physical looks of young girls.

According to them, it is disappointing to note that persons who are expected to encourage these young girls and inspire them rather abuse them in a manner that is unacceptable in society.

The Executive Director of the Network of Women in Growth, Mawulowoe Awity who spoke to GHOne News on the sidelines of the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentary Centre’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 2022, said human beings were created in the image of God hence individuals should not downgrade others based on their looks.

“It depends on how it is said. Sometimes it is said in a certain way that sort of glorifies somebody against another person. I believe that as human beings we are created in the image of God and people’s beauty or body stature should not be used to glorify another person against another person,” Mrs. Awity lamented.

She added: “It shouldn’t be so. And there are certain and other certain sexual comments that people make as men that may sound good but sometimes can be derogatory to us. And even the comments that people sometimes make to our daughters.

“An old man sees your daughter and is like this your girl is really getting ripped.Those kind of words of comments should not be coming from a 40-year-old man to a 13-year-old-girl .No,this is not the kind of comments you (older men) would want to be telling a young girl.”

She explained: “You would want to be telling her to be educated, you would want to tell her to focus on her books but not to sort of glorify her body because we already see enough happening on the tv that sort of uses women as sex symbols and glorifies women as sex symbols.

“Music videos are showing women that are naked but men are fully dressed. But women have to be ones to expose part of their bodies.”

She intimated that “it is about how the derogatory comment sort of pitches women against each other in terms of beauty or body stature.”

The Programs Manager for Gender Center, Deborah Tayo-Akakpo explained that the rationale behind the center’s young women forum on 16 days of activism was to question the status quo.

“As we all know 16 days of activism is a period where we are all calling on authorities? We are questioning our consciences. We are questioning the status quo. We are calling to order things that are not in order when it comes to the issues of violence against women and girls,” she noted.

“We are saying that whatever has gone wrong, we are repoliticizing the issues against women and girls and making sure that they become a priority for us,” Mrs. Tayo-Akakpo noted.

For her part, the Program Manageress for Ark Foundation Ghana, Anabel Pwalia charged young women to up their game and show interest in activism.

“They (young women) should be interested in being activists because a lot of people shy away from the word activism because of the perception people have about it,” she urged.

“But you see, we need to take action, we want to see change. Everybody wants to leave a comfortable life in the country. You’ll be able to have access to resources, you should be able to set up your mind. So, if you don’t talk about it, there would not be a change.

“That’s why I’m saying young people should be interested about these issues. Let’s learn let’s empower ourselves, let’s read around, let’s use social media instead of us just taking pictures and videos,” Anabel Pwalia urged the women.

Mentors

A member of the young feminist group, Lily Mensah who was one of the facilitators urged young women to take a step back should their mentors add no value to their progress.

“It is a very difficult situation because I have also been there before. Where you find someone (Mentor) and you think that this person would be good enough to mentor you go ahead. But what we can do is that you can’t be mentored by just one person. You can even be mentored by your own colleagues, your own peer’s so we need to move forward. We can’t have it all.

She added: “If you notice that the part in which you are trying to steer, the person who you are mentoring, you don’t have those same values there is nothing wrong in getting someone else.”

The activism sponsored by Ford Foundation was on the theme, Unite! Activism to end violence against women and girls.

The Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre (GSHRDC) is a women’s rights advocacy organization based in Accra with over twenty-five years of experience working in various parts of the country to promote women’s and children’s rights, including addressing Violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global human rights violation, and public health issue, with significant negative health and social consequences.

In Ghana, recent estimates of the prevalence and incidence of VAWG indicate high occurrence with 28% of women reporting at least one form of violence in the past year (UN Women; 2012) and 45% reporting prevalence of lifetime violence.

The period from 25th November to 10th December; marks 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence which has been commemorated globally every year for over three decades to highlight the issue of violence against women.

The 2022 theme for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence is “Unite! Activism to end violence against women and girls” and as part of our activities GSHRDC is organising a young women’s forum to dialogue and engage with young women from the ages of 18-35 on their role in advocating for an end to VAWG.