President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and cabinet have given approval for the much awaited Affirmative Action Bill to be sent to Parliament for consideration.
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hajia Lariba Zuweira Abudu who announced this, explained that cabinet agreed to the passing of the bill and the President consented for it to be passed into law.
“We are working tirelessly on the affirmative action bill to be passed in Parliament because the affirmative action bill now has been approved by cabinet. The President has put his signature on it and it is now in Parliament to be passed into law and very soon you will see the affirmative action bill in action,” she announced.
The affirmative action bill is to ensure gender parity in decision-making processes with at least 40% of public offices be reserved for women.
The Gender Minister made the announcement during the launch of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence in Tamale on Saturday.
This year’s event is being marked on the theme: “Unite! Activism to end violence against women and girls.”
Hajia Lariba Abudu who is also the Member of Parliament for Walewale constituency in her remarks disclosed her ministry has also finished with the first part of reviewing the Domestic Violence Act 2007, (Act 732) and the legislative instrument and the national domestic violence policy, which will be sent to the next level for redrafting.
She added that the ministry in partnership with UNFPA has trained over 120 executive market women to serve as paralegals in eight markets in Greater, Western, Bono East and the Northern regions to assist survivors in the markets and their communities.
These women, according to the Gender Minister, are going to serve as watchdogs and report any form of gender-based violence to the appropriate quarters.
“So, we trained them on what to do and what to look out for and where to report and so they are within your communities and the market place that you don’t know and they are watching you, so be careful. We are not limiting gender-based violence to only men; women also offend their men and the verse versa.”
Hajia Lariba Abudu further announced the ministry has started the construction and refurbishment of accommodation facilities across the regions to provide shelter for survivors of gender-based violence while their cases are settled in the law courts or out of court.
The 2016 Ghana domestic violence data shows that 27.7 percent of Ghanaian women experience at least one form of domestic violence being physical, psychological or economical among others.
In addition, 38 percent of adolescent girls age 15 to 19 reported having experience one form of violence or the other according to the multiple indicator cluster survey between 2017 and 2018.
According to the Minister, some of these violent practices happen in schools and work places.
She emphasized gender-based violence are serious offenses that must not be tolerated, saying it is happening because nobody is talking about them because of cultural norms and believes in the society.
The minister admonished various stakeholders to report such violations to the appropriate authorities for the necessary actions.
The Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shaibu for his part reiterated the commitment of the government to fight gender-based violence.
The Regional Minister said it is sad that cases of witchcraft accusations, harmful widowhood rights, early and forced marriages among other are still on the rise in the northern region despite the interventions of the government and civil society and nongovernmental organizations.
