Women, real agents of change

Article: Salome Donkor
The year 2011 can be described as another historic year dedicated to outlining the achievements of women who have transformed societies across the world. Apart from marking 100 years since the observance of International Women’s Day, 2011 also marks the beginning of the African Women's Decade, a period to draw attention to the many areas where gender discrimination continues to impede girls and women's human rights.
The Commonwealth Day, celebrated on the second Monday in March every year, was observed on March 14, 2011 and the theme for this year’s celebration was, ‘Women as Agents of Change’.
From the first World Conference on the Status of Women convened in Mexico City between June 19 - July 2, 1975 to coincide with the International Women’s Year when the UN recommended a UN Decade for Women (1975-85) to now, there have been intensified efforts to advance women’s development.
A message from the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Kamalesh Sharma, indicated that women were the barometers of society: They were an indication of its internal pressure levels and their fortunes could be the clearest forecasts of good or bad things to come.
It said where women prospered, societies prospered, and where women suffered, so too did the societies in which they lived, adding, “We have seen that we can accelerate social, economic and political progress” if we invested in women.
He said the evidence was clear: The Commonwealth had given practical help to women in entrepreneurship, it had supported the role of women in peace-keeping and in local and national politics and it had argued the case for empowering women — from putting young girls through school to ensuring that women had access to trained midwives.
“We have pioneered among our member governments a gender consideration to every aspect of national life, hence the need for policies and funds to match,” he said.
The statement said women were the people who could bring about real and lasting transformation at every level in society and unlocking their limitless but locked potential could open the doors of opportunity for all in the Commonwealth and the wider world.
One-half of the world’s population may be made up of women and girls; yet women and girls bear two-thirds of the world’s problems. Two-thirds of those out of school worldwide are girls and two-thirds of those who are illiterate or out of work or living with HIV and AIDS are women.
Women and girls make up over half of the world’s population. In the Commonwealth, that’s over one billion people. By educating them, giving them accessible health care and making sure they are treated fairly and have the same opportunities and protection as men and boys, we can go a long way towards addressing the many problems of the world.
The theme for the Commonwealth Day means that by investing in women and girls, we can accelerate social, economic and political progress. Women and girls need to be included at all levels of decision making to ensure that their needs are properly met.
Girls should have the chance to grow up and become healthy, educated women who can make a positive difference in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Reports received by the Gender and Children’s Desk on the occasion of yet another International Women's Day reflected on the extent to which laws have positively influenced the lives of Ghanaian women, the need to deal with traditional practices that are inimical to the development of women and increase women’s participation in decision making.
Mention could be made of practices such as widowhood rites, the payment of high dowry that leave some women as slaves to their husbands, customary servitude such as trokosi, the witch camps, diseases such as obstetric fistula, maternal health, as well as women’s right to inheritance, as some of the challenges confronting women’s development.
The ground-breaking law to positively affect the lives of women in Ghana was the Intestate Succession Law, 1985, PNDC Law 111. Another was the Registration of Customary Marriage Law, PNDC Law 112. Together, these laws, though promulgated during a military regime, provided protection for the inheritance rights of women by revolutionising the quantum of inheritance of surviving spouses and children to a deceased person's estate.
The 1992e Constitution prohibited harmful cultural practices. In 1994, female genital mutilation was made a crime and there was a further amendment of this law in 2007. In 1998, customary servitude was made a crime by our Parliament to address trokosi and the witch camps.
Despite the passage of these laws, Nana Oye Lithur, a gender activist and human rights lawyer, says to a large extent they have not helped protect women from harmful customary practices.
Reflecting on the theme for this year’s Commonwealth Day, there is the need to work towards expanding women's voice, leadership and participation, as well as ending violence against women.
Eliminating discrimination against women and girls, empowering women and achieving equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security should constitute the priority areas.
The need to strengthen institutions to monitor the implementation of constitutional provisions that guarantee women’s rights, legislative action, judicial interpretation and policies and pay particular attention to concerns of gender as important ingredients of sustainable development is also critical.
We need to give recognition to the contribution of women, especially those in the rural areas, to household income and the country’s general economy and development.
According to Mrs Chris Dadzie, a gender activist, there were a number of gaps in the 1992 Constitution in respect of gender equality and other rights of women that needed to be addressed promptly.
Mrs Dadzie, who is also a member of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Constitution Coalition, who was making a presentation on “Gender and Ghana’s 1992 Constitution” at a roundtable in Accra recently, was reported to have said that beyond those interventions, the Constitution review process needed further support in the spheres of gender and women’s rights in order to ensure optimum results and full ownership of the process by all Ghanaians.
These crises are already showing in Ghana that they will impede efforts to promote gender justice, eradicate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for sustainable development.