First Lady Rebecca-Akufo-Addo
We doff our hats to our indefatigable women on the occasion of the International Day Of Women. As an international event set aside by the United Nations (UN) to recognize the role of women in the advancement of the cause of man in various spheres, we join in showing deference to women especially, in our own country where they have been exceptional.
From the onset of the independence struggle to date, women have played crucial roles sometimes in silence or behind the scenes. These roles have mostly provided the necessary impetus for the achievement of the eventual positive goals as in the attainment of independence among others.
Their roles have been recognized by political parties hence the creation of the position of Women Organisers by these groupings. Political activities would be incomplete without women hence the dependence of politicians on them for the crowd effect.
One of the most challenging tasks in our homes is the raising of children and the management of the kitchens. These look ordinary but require expertise and commitment to provide. Women do these critical assignments best. As leaders of tomorrow, children whose formative years are the most critical in their upbringing, rely mostly on their mothers for the inculcation of the necessary discipline yet this service is not sufficiently recognized, and mostly taken for granted.
In cases where men, due to sometimes inexplicable reasons disappear and when this happens, the women stand in almost immediately providing the bread to keep bodies and souls together.
Mothers are known to have sold their jewelry and cloths to provide for the needs of their kids at school; something men hardly do.
Just as the UN has done, the Ghanaian government under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration has set up a Gender and Women’s Ministry to provide the necessary support to protect vulnerable women from the sometimes negative effects of an uneven playing field at the workplace.
The Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service also provides the law enforcement service needed to protect vulnerable women in a generally harsh male dominated society.
We must begin to fight more forcefully against the stereotyping of women because not only is this baseless, it denies society from benefitting from the enormous potentials of the opposite gender.
The Affirmative Action Bill is still begging to be passed. We join the call by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to civil society organizations championing the cause of women and related bodies to do more to ensure that the bill is passed without undue delay.
The more this is delayed the more the interests of women are ignored; primitive aberration in a modern world.
For those who doubt the capabilities of women, let them turn their attention to the international and local scenes and they would appreciate the quality services they are providing in various spheres of life. That they combine these roles with the management of their individual homes stands them apart from their male counterparts in terms of workload and even endurance.