Lecturer urges more education on poverty reduction strategies

Cape Coast, Aug. 19, GNA - A lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Mr Godwin Egbenya, on Friday called for more education on poverty reduction programmes being initiated by the government and some NGOs to raise the socio-economic status of women in particular, to enable them to avail themselves of such opportunities.

He observed that some women, especially those within the rural areas, were not aware of such programmes and that those who were aware had no knowledge as to how such assistance could be accessed.

Mr Egbenya made the call, when he spoke on "What is poverty- are women poor?" at the on-going 30th annual inter-church women's conference in Cape Coast.

The four-day conference, which is on the theme: "Women arise and fight", is being organised by the Christian Council of Ghana and has 150 delegates from various churches in the country attending.

Touching on the causes of poverty, Mr Egbenya said poverty had been attributed to several factors such as population explosion, insufficient food production and unemployment.

He said in many developing countries like Ghana, women had low social status and were restricted in their access to education and income generating activities, thereby making them dependent on men for support, which was hardly offered.

Mr Egbenya said other conditions, which had contributed to this plight of women were the prevalence of women-headed households and lower earning capacities.