On the occasion of International Women’s Day, which fell on March 8, ActionAid Ghana, a civil society organization, has urged government and all stakeholders to ‘set it up’ for gender equality to reach ‘Planet 50-50’ before 2030.
The Day is celebrated every year to recognize the achievements of women around the world, and call for the elimination of all discrimination, gender stereotypes, violence, and greater equality for women.
The theme for this year was: “Empower Women, Empower Humanity: Picture it!” which was the clarion call of the UN Women’s Beijing+20 Campaign”.
A statement issued by Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin, ActionAid Ghana Communications and Public Relations Manager, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said while there had been many positive developments since the first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911, women today face many cultural and social challenges that work against the full expression of their rights and freedoms.
Queronica Quarley Quartey, Policy and Campaigns Manager of ActionAid Ghana, pictures the Ghanaian woman living in a better situation than she is currently: “I wish more women could realize their career and personal dreams in a violence-free environment.
“I wish more girls in poor and deprived communities had equal aces to quality education; I wish children didn’t need to walk long miles to school; I wish more women were supported to contest and win democratic elections. I wish there were no cultural and traditional forms of violence against women in Ghana. But that’s not the state of the Ghanaian woman today.”
The statement said: “These words would be repeated by women across the world on International Women’s Day. As we mark the day and prepare towards the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration – a landmark moment for women’s rights – our resignation to the unfavourable realities of life for women is a stark reflection on gender inequality and discrimination”.
“Yes, some progress has been made since the Beijing Declaration was signed by almost all countries in 1995.”
It said since then, two-thirds of countries had enacted legislations on domestic violence; this is a major step in addressing a staggering human rights abuse that affects so many.
It said yet a lot more needs to be done when more than 70 per cent of women around the world had experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner.
The statement said millions of girls and women around the world were restricted from fully benefiting from the educational, political, economic and leisure opportunities that towns and cities offer.
It said the poorer and more marginalized women were, the more they were affected. Stating that women were forced to restrict their lifestyles and adapt out of necessity.
It noted that to address this injustice, governments must lead public education campaigns to stop sexist attitudes, and other forms of discrimination towards girls and women.
It quoted United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in his message to mark the Day, as saying “When we unleash the power of women, we can secure the future for all.”
The statement said: “This year International Women’s Day takes place just days before government representatives, women’s rights activists and policy leaders meet in New York to review the agreement they made twenty years ago in Beijing to improve the lives of women.
“It should not be another twenty years before governments hear the voices of disadvantaged girls and women who have almost come to accept gender discrimination and injustice as the norm because of our inaction and neglect,”.
ActionAid Ghana is an affiliate of ActionAid, an anti-poverty movement of people working together to further human rights for all and defeat poverty.
It operates in six regions: Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Greater Accra, Volta and Brong-Ahafo..
Its vision is a world without poverty and injustice, in which every person enjoys their right to a life of dignity.
