Conference on sexual, gender-based violence in workplace held in Accra 

A conference to help combat Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in the workplace has been held in Accra. 

Dubbed: ‘The Draft Model; Gender Workplace Policy’, it was organised by Oxfam in Ghana, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), and the Institute of Directors, Ghana (IOD-Ghana). 

The conference formed part of a five-year ENOUGH initiative in Ghana, which is co-funded by the European Union and Oxfam to combat SGBV in the country. 

The project aims to be a catalyst for revolutionary change in workplaces by encouraging the implementation of gender-inclusive policies, notably anti-sexual harassment measures, in both public and private companies.

Speaking at the conference on Wednesday, The Gender Advisor and Project Manager at Oxfam, Mrs Thelma Akyere Hayford, said the conference marked an important point in Ghana’s pursuit of gender equity in the workplace, providing a forum for cooperation, information exchange, and real commitments to building safe and inclusive working environments.  

“It also intends to have interactive sessions in which participants may share their experiences and debate the actual application of anti-sexual harassment regulations,” she said

According to her, The National Conference on Gender Model Workplace Policy was an important step in creating a workplace that respects and protects the rights of all employees. 

She was optimistic that the conference would help to influence policy adoption, foster structural change, and contribute to the formation of workplaces that adhere to worldwide best practices in gender equality by bringing important stakeholders together.

Mrs Hayford noted that, gender-inclusive policies at workplaces improved business culture, employee well-being, and productivity. 

The President and Chairperson of the Council of the IOD, Ghana, Reverend Angela Carmen Appiah, said individuals lived in an ecosystem of different players and actors which meant that they would need harmony for survival.

She said workplaces and society at large needed a competent director to be mindful of societal dynamics in order to prescribe policies to address the needs of societies. 

She urged directors to, at all times, put in appropriate interventions, to care, manage, address, modify and review policies at work place to suit the current trends. 

Rev Appiah urged them to monitor and track the implementation of the policiesand not just left them in documents. 

“So we need to be deliberate and intentional, even in implementation of policies to ensure that those voices that we want to hear, those persons that are marginalized are indeed been taken care of,” she noted. 

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