Jean Mensah, Executive Director of IEA and Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin
THE INSTITUTE of Economic Affairs (IEA) has premiered a special documentary on the challenges facing women as economic actors in the three Northern Regions of Ghana.
IEA in May 2016, accordingly undertook extensive field work in the three Northern Regions of Ghana to unearth the barriers and challenges facing women that impedes their effective participation in the economy and Ghana’s development process.
As part of this research, DAILY GUIDE gathered, the institute commissioned a documentary that captures the real life situations of women as economic actors in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions.
The documentary which was screened on Tuesday at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, depicts women’s role in various sectors of economic activity and documents the views of key community leaders including chiefs, women activists and opinion leaders.
It reports that women have limited access to economic resources and their participation in the formal economy is low.
Women have been identified as one of the groups suffering disproportionately from poverty especially in the Central, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana.
Yet the sector, in which they are in the majority, namely, food crop production, is not a priority area as economic policies do not address their needs and concerns in a systematic manner, according to IEA.
According to Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin, Executive Director of Abantu for Development and one of the lead researchers in the field work, 400 women and 100 men were observed during the study which lasted for nine months.
She pointed out that although women, as per the 2010 population census, constitute about 52 percent of the Ghanaian population, they remain marginalized and disadvantaged in all sectors of the economy and in the development agenda.
The situation, she said, is pathetic in the three northern regions where certain cultural norms like the patrilineal inheritance system bars women from owning land which is a major economic asset for every community.
The documentary sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is expected to be aired on major radio and television stations across the country.
BY Melvin Tarlue