Despite the establishment of the International Labor Law that seeks to address rights and duties of employees at various workplaces,girls in Ghana working especially in the informal sector are exposed to all forms of abuses either from employers or their peers.
The traumatizing growing threat to human rights has either left many adolescent girls psychologically derailed or
early pregnancies and medical infections.
All though the statics on cases of girl child abuses are not staggering as compared to the Persian Gulf and India, many policies from both governments and Non-governmental organizations have been rolled out to reduce the menace in Ghana.
For instance , the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection has been established in Ghana to pay attention on issues pertaining to human rights abuse and take necessary actions against perpetrators. Not only that, the vulnerable are also empowered economically in order to be self reliant.
In our quest to follow up the trend of girl child abuse in the Upper East Region, A1 News spoke to some young girls in random interviews to know their experiences .
Lourisha Akurugu a Weaver explained her horrifying ordeal about how her Madam’s husband harassed her whenever she was sent on an errand in the house.
“Anytime she asks me to go to her house, I usually get scared because her husband used to harass me sexually but there is no one to tell because I’m afraid” she said.
Another abused lady whose name was given as Dorcas said, “When I completed my Senior High School and traveled to the Southern Sector in search of a job, I landed myself at a chop bar where my madam used not to like me and will not allow me to rest. She will force me to work overtime without payment.” She lamented.
In view of this creeping danger in society ,Manager of Women’s Rights and Campaigns for Action Aid Ghana, Ms. Margaret Brew-Ward has taken an initiative to ensure that such experiences amongst young girls in the rural communities are tackled.
According to Ms. Brew-Ward, ActionAid has trained over 50 young girls across the region on self defense against harassment and abuse through a program dubbed “Young Urban Women’s Movement”.
According to her, in 2018, her outfit conducted a research on the economic exploitation of young girls where it revealed that 60 percent of young girls were been sexually and economically exploited a reasons informing her outfit to undertake such an initiative.
“With this training, I believe that some of them will be able to protect themselves and their colleagues anytime they are confronted with such behaviors at their various workplaces” she stated.
She, however, called on the girls to extend what they have been taught from the training to also educate their colleagues in their communities.
Source:A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHZ|Ghana
