Women are principled and not arrogant - Francisca Oteng Mensah

Ghana’s youngest lawmaker, Francisca Oteng Mensah has disagreed with the general assertion that women who occupy top positions in either government or private life tend to be arrogant.

She described such claims as erroneous maintaining that women in such portfolios are rather principled which many are refusing to accept as the reality.

Women in their line of duty she explained, are very cautious and diligent who refuse to allow such persons have their way which is always not right.

Speaking to Luther King Kwame Adinkra on Abusua Nkommo in Commemoration of the International Women’s Day, the lawmaker for Kwabre East Constituency in the Ashanti Region concurred with assertions made by Deputy Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Madam Patricia Appiahgyei that women are full of ideas and tactful in their dealings, very circumspect and influential compared to their male counterparts.

According to her, women in parliament are suppressed because some of their male colleagues do not support women issues on the floor of the house.

“It’s difficult for women in Parliament – Some MPs do not support women issues that come to the floor of the house. But the president being a special gender advocate women are not perturbed”, she observed.

Background

This year, International Women’s Day comes on the heels of unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality and justice. Sexual harassment, violence and discrimination against women has captured headlines and public discourse, propelled by a rising determination for change.

International Women’s Day 2018 is an opportunity to transform this momentum into action, to empower women in all settings, rural and urban, and celebrate the activists who are working relentlessly to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential.

Echoing the priority theme of the upcoming 62nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, International Women’s Day will also draw attention to the rights and activism of rural women, who make up over a quarter of the world population and majority of the 43 percent of women in the global agricultural labour force.

They till the lands and plant seeds to feed nations, ensure food security for their communities and build climate resilience. Yet, on almost every measure of development, because of deep-seated gender inequalities and discrimination, rural women fare worse than rural men or urban women. For instance, less than 20 percent of landholders worldwide are women, and while the global pay gap between men and women stand at 23 percent, in rural areas, it can be as high as 40 percent. They lack infrastructure and services, decent work and social protection, and are left more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rural women and their organizations represent an enormous potential, and they are on the move to claim their rights and improve their livelihoods and wellbeing. They are using innovative agricultural methods, setting up successful businesses and acquiring new skills, pursuing their legal entitlements and running for office.