'Open creche at offices to provide childcare for employees children' - Women's organiser to employers

Women’s Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Barbara Boafo in the United States has called on employers in the country to double their efforts in achieving gender balance by opening creche at their offices to provide childcare for employees’ children who are aged between 5-15 months.

"They should also aim to change the situation where male dominates the workplace by hiring and promoting employees, regardless of gender, and offering breastfeeding amenities on site", she said.

Mrs. Boafo was speaking to the GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent after the International Women’s Day, which was marked last Sunday, on the theme, "I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights", observed in Western Region.

According to her, equality starts at home and that a company’s parental leave policy should be inclusive to enable employees thrive and achieve their career aspirations, and to overcome biases, job advertisements should be gender-neutral to minimize the perception that a specific role is directed at a particular sex.

She lamented that unequal access to education, early marriage rates among women and family responsibilities must be overcome swiftly to increase the number of women in the formal workforce.

"We must advocate for a gender parity mindset, a mindset change from ground level to the top is necessary - there should be equality at entry-level positions, as well as in positions of power, since leadership should be reflective of the change we want to see", she stressed.

Mrs. Boafo commended the Nana Akufo-Addo led government for introducing the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy which has offered more girls an opportunity to get secondary education, who hitherto, would have been drop-outs.

She said the NPP government had taken measures to promote the fulfilment of girls and women potential through education, skills development and the eradication of illiteracy for all girls and women without discrimination of any kind, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty and ill health.

She argued that when women are educated, they would have the guts to fight for their own and build the habit of speaking for their own basic rights.

She added that women's empowerment was all about equipping and allowing women to make life-determining decisions, through the different problems in society, and this includes the action of raising the status of women through education, raising awareness, literacy and training.