Mrs Joycelyn Adii, the Bono Regional Director of the Department of Gender has called for collective efforts for the nation to achieve women’s equality.
She said effective policies, projects and programmes for gender equality at the national and sub-national levels ought to be crafted to ensure equal space and resources for women and men to participate in decision making.
Addressing a consultative meeting organised by Action Aid Ghana (AAG), a non-governmental organisation to mark this year’s celebration of the International Women’s Day in Sunyani, Mrs Adii said women’s role in nation building remained unparalleled, hence the need to empower them economically.
The United Nations (UN) has set aside March 8, every year for the celebration of the IWD to highlight the cultural, political and socio-economic achievements of women across the globe and this year’s celebration is on the theme “gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, breaking the bias”.
Mrs Adii called for multi-sectorial and participatory climate change gender action plans to integrate gender-related concerns and build on the capabilities to create unique knowledge and perspectives of women, not only to build their climate resilience, but also make them active agents of climate change mitigation.
The meeting was attended by women youth groups, activists, small holder farmers and women civil society actors.
Mrs Adii indicated advancing gender equality in the context of the climate crises and disaster risk reduction remained one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century, saying issues of climate change and sustainability would continue to have severe and lasting impacts on the environment, economic and social development.
“Women farmers should be recruited in the decision making process in climate change as well as train them on observing plants and animals and weather predictions”, she said.
Mr Yaw Osei Boateng, the Programmes Officer of AAG explained the AAG’s climate justice campaign aimed at strengthening resilient livelihoods and securing climate justice.
He explained climate justice required that rich polluting countries contributed more in climate action to cut down on their greenhouse gases and provided climate finance for vulnerable low-income countries to be able to implement climate adaptation and mitigation measures.
“The theme for this year’s IWD sets the tone for deliberations and reflections on the strategic approach and interventions in addressing climate change to make recommendations for government’s consideration to build their resilience against the impact of climate change”, he said.
Madam Miriam A. Gbedemah ,a member of Young Urban Women’s Movement, a civil society group, said women, especially girls played a critical role in addressing, mitigating and solving the climate crises indicating women and girls possessed unique knowledge and experience in agriculture, conservation and management of natural resources .
She said women considered their families and communities in decision-making processes, saying their active inclusion in decision making remained critical for effective climate mitigation actions.
Skynewsroom
