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Tamale, Ghana – Municipal Chief Executive for the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly, Mariam Iddrisu, has underscored the power and influence of the media in helping government and non-state actors such as nongovernmental organisations to achieve gender parity and equality in Ghana.
According to her, the media was relevant in so many ways including advocating for the rights of women and girls through the education of the citizenry, stressing that “to reverse the current trend of Ghana’s position on the Global Gender Disparity Index, all stakeholders, especially the media who have a critical role to play, must be actively involved”.
Madam Mariam who was keynote speaker on the occasion of International Women’s Day commemoration in Tamale organized by Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL), said “the government of Ghana and its development partners, as well as NGOs must deeply engage with the press to develop strategies towards achieving a gender parity situation in the country.
“It is high time we begun to adopt contemporary strategies and assume a new paradigm in dealing with the issue……..apart from the conventional media such as the TV stations, Radio stations and the Print media, we now have the social media such as facebook, whatsapp, Instagram, twitter and so on to adopt in our campaigns on gender parity in this country.
“……for the press to make real progress for gender parity in the Northern Region and beyond, they must consciously break the norms. What we often see in the media regarding discussions on economic, social, political, cultural, religious, entertainment, sports, etc. usually involve men talking to men about men. Women must be deeply involved in order to create role models for other women in the society. The media must endeavor to put women’s issues on everyone’s agenda”, she emphasized.
The MCE for Sagnarigu also indicated that, women and youth remained the most vulnerable because of their limited access to resources such as land and credit, lack of education, wealth disparity and gender inequality entrenched by social and traditional values and practices.
“In spite of all these, women also face what is known as the double-burden where they spend an average of 82.5 hours per week on productive and domestic work as against 56.3 hours for men according to the Ghana Living Standards Survey.
“So basically, their opportunities to participation are constrained by their poorer level of education, their double-burden and entrenched discriminatory beliefs and practices towards them”, she observed.
As part of steps being taken to bridge the gender parity and inequality gap in the Sagnarigu Municipality, Madam Mariam said she had inaugurated a Girl’s Model School to promote girl child education, reduce the education gender gap between boys and girls and also improve conditions and the learning experience of girls.
“We have plans to construct a one storey classroom block, a dormitory block, a kitchen, a dining hall, teachers’ bungalow, ICT centre and a recreational park. In this regard, our revered and respected Chief of Sagnarigu has given out five acres of land……”, she revealed.
She also noted that, plans were far advanced for a sensitization drive of women in all tertiary schools in the municipality. “This we hope will create an opportunity to interact with these fine and brilliant ladies and expose them to the various roles they can play in the developmental efforts of the municipality all in line with the President’s vision of women inclusiveness in good governance”, she intimated.
“We are also in the process of establishing a girl’s educational fund to take care of brilliant but needy girls in the municipality. We have resolved at the Assembly that job opportunities will be equitably made available in the ratio of at least 50-50%”, the Sagnarigu MCE opined.
Executive Director of Youth Empowerment for Life and organisers of the International Women’s Day commemoration, Jawol Vera Magan in her welcome speech, said women constituted about 52 percent of the country’s population and must be commended for their enormous contribution and achievements in all sectors of the economy.
She called on the government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social protection to fast track the passage of the Affirmative Action bill into law.
Madam Vera also urged citizens of the country to patronize made in Ghana products such as food, beverages, clothes and other household items so that by doing so, they help in the economic development and growth of the country.
Meanwhile, International Women’s Day, usually celebrated on March 8 each year, is a day set aside to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women all over the world. The theme for 2018 IWD is “#Pressing for Progress” – a push for gender equality worldwide.
By Savannahnewsonline.com
