According to Abigail Fati Abdulai, Executive Director of the Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), the nation has made significant progress in the struggle to ensure that women’s rights are recognized. Additionally, the nation has steadily improved its efforts to guarantee equality and level the playing field for women.
It is however worthy to note that the fight is far from over. It is even more important to realise that for the country to reach an optimum level in the fight for parity, CSOs, NGOs, religious and traditional leaders as well as political interest groups, the media, and individuals would have to collaborate, Madam Abdulai said.
She spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.
“We have made some progress. If you look back to over 100 years ago when women couldn’t vote, [things have changed]. In this country, there was a time when women couldn’t even bank without the permission of their husbands. We have come a long way. We have the Domestic Violence Act. We have PNDC Law 111, which is the intestate succession law. We have a lot of girls in schools now. We have gender parity in most of our basic and senior high schools. We have good numbers when it comes to the tertiary level. We have had our first female Chief Justice. We have a woman as Speaker of Parliament. We have a woman who is the chief of staff. We are awaiting a woman as the leader of the executive. We have to recognise how far we have come but also know that this is not the time to relax. There is more work to be done,” she said.
Partnerships, heightened advocacy, momentum, and a general understanding that supporting women’s rights and equity has huge benefits for society are what have brought the country this far, Madam Abdulai said.
“We have realised that gender parity isn’t something that favours just women; it is actually a developmental issue that ensures that the country is progressing. I think that increasingly, we are understanding that it isn’t that women are fighting against men, but that there’s a genuine development need to ensure that both women and men are in the spaces where decision-making takes place. But also that they have equal opportunities for a better society.”
The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren’t enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action, according to internationalwomensday.com.
More on the theme
Equality versus Equity: What’s the difference as we #EmbraceEquity for IWD 2023 and beyond?
The words equity and equality are often used interchangeably.
Etymologically, the root word they share is aequus, meaning “even” or “fair” or “equal” – which led to equity being from the Latin aequitas, and equality from aequalitas. Yet, despite these similarities, equity and equality are inherently different concepts, and the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme seeks to help forge worldwide conversation about this important issue and its impact.
So, what’s the difference between equity and equality – and why is it important to understand, acknowledge and value this?
The IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme seeks to get the world talking about why “equal opportunities are no longer enough” – and can in fact be exclusionary, rather than inclusive.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
