Parliament urged to pass Affirmative Action Bill to advance women’s development

Hilary Gbedemah, a former Chairperson, UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), has reiterated the call on Parliament to pass the Affirmative Action Bill to advance women’s development.

She said though Ghana had taken giant steps in ensuring gender parity, a lot more women had been left at the periphery in various fields of endeavour due to systemic issues and the deep-rooted patriarchy.

“We are expected to be further ahead than we are right now. It is important to look at the systemic issues, legal regime, educational regime, and the deep-rooted patriarchy.”

The lawyer and women’s rights activist said this at the “Women in Motion”, film festival, which sought to inspire society, especially women to continue to shine and let their voices be heard wherever they were.

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency after watching the film “When Women Speak”, Madam Gbedemah, said, she could not see where the difficulty was in passing the Bill and urged the media to champion its passage.

She said women should not suffer any abuses, discrimination, and punishment at their workplaces for getting married or pregnant, adding that, “pregnancy is a social function and without pregnancy how do we grow our population for Development..?”

Madam Gbedemah said the film had very far-reaching consequences that should be utilised as a tool to advance gender studies, leadership studies, intergenerational discourses, and motivation of women.

“When Women Speak” is a documentary shot in Ghana, and traces a cohort of 16 women from the 1960s to 1990s; woven with interviews, animations, archival footage, and photographs.

It catalogues their life experiences in their own words, as Ghana passed through periods of single-party, multi-party and military governments.

Miss Aseye Tamakloe, Director and Editor, “When Women Speak”, said the film created awareness of what had been done and where to continue from.

“It is an attempt to bring back some Ghanaian women’s stories into history,” she said.

Michelle Cloud, Regional Public Engagement Specialist, US Embassy, said the film festival was to highlight the issues of women empowerment and gender equity.

She said collective efforts were needed through programme to address issues of inadequate women representation and equal opportunities.