The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has called on various stakeholders in the country to commit to creating an all-inclusive environment for all, especially girls and women to thrive in the field of work.
The Commission in a statement to mark this year’s international women’s day, said Ghanaian women continue to face a number challenges including Female Genital Mutilation, Child and forced marriages, discriminatory practices and sexual harassment at work places which prevents them from reaching their full potentials in their respective fields.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that Ghanaian women continue to face a myriad of challenges which hold them back from reaching their full potential including opportunities in the world of work. Challenges such as obnoxious cultural practices including Female Genital Mutilation, Child, Early and forced marriages, discriminatory practices and sexual harassment at the work place which regrettably continue to be practices in some of our communities and work places even though our Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender as well as harmful traditional practices whiles the Criminal and other Offences Act, 1960 Act 29 and the Children’s Act have both criminalized genital mutilation and child marriage.”
The statement, signed by the Commission’s head, Joseph Whittal, expressed regret that the previous Parliament could not pass the Affirmative Action bill that sought to address gender inequality in the country.
It thus urged the Government to liaise with the new Parliament to have the bill quickly passed.
“It is regrettable that the Affirmative Action Bill, intended to rectify discrimination on the basis of sex or gender by redressing social, economic and educational gender imbalances- was not passed into law by the previous Parliament. CHRAJ, therefore, urges the current Government to liaise with Parliament to get the Bill passed as quickly as possible to address the intended mischief that law seeks to rectify.”
“Additionally, there should be a Legislative Instrument to set out the modalities for implementation so that the law does not become dysfunctional,” the statement said.
It also called for the implementation of the National Gender Policy in order to mainstream gender equality into the national development processes.
It added that, “progress across the globe will not be possible if women continue to be denied their full human rights and opportunities. CHRAJ, therefore calls on all stakeholders to work together to ensure women and girls enjoy equal access to quality education, economic resources and political participation, as well as equal opportunities for employment, leadership and decision-making at all levels.”
Wednesday, March 8, 2017, was marked globally as International Women’s Day. The theme for this year’s celebration in Ghana is ‘Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 20130’.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)