Employers told to double efforts in gender equality

By Seth Danquah, GNA

Takoradi, March 12, GNA - Mrs. Barbara Boafo, Women’s Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the United States has called on employers in the country to double their efforts in achieving gender equity.

This, she said they could do by opening crèches at various offices to provide childcare for children of employees aged between five and 15 months.

They should also endeavour to change the situation, where males dominated the workplace by hiring and promoting employees, regardless of gender, and by offering breastfeeding amenities on site.

Mrs Boafo said this at the sidelines during the celebration of International Women’s Day, which was marked on the theme, “I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights.”

According to her, equality started at home and that a company’s parental leave policy should be inclusive to enable employees thrive and achieve their career aspirations, and to overcome biases, job advertisements should be gender neutral to minimise the perception that a specific role was directed at a particular sex.

She lamented that unequal access to education, early marriage rates among girls and family responsibilities must be overawed swiftly to increase the number of women in the formal workforce.

“We must advocate a gender parity mindset, a mind-set change from ground level to the top is necessary – there should be equality at entry-level positions, as well as in positions of power, since leadership should be reflective of the change we want to see”, she stressed.

Mrs Boafo commended the Nana Akufo-Addo led government for introducing the Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy which has offered more girls the opportunity to get secondary education, who hitherto, would have been drop-outs.

She said, the NPP government took measures to promote the fulfilment of girls and women potential through education, skills development and the eradication of illiteracy for all girls and women without discrimination of any kind, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty and ill health.

She argued that when women were educated, they would have the capacity to fight for their own and build the habit of speaking for their own basic rights.

She added that "women's empowerment is all about equipping and allowing women to make life-determining decisions, through the different problems in society, and this include the action of raising the status of women through education, raising awareness, literacy and training".

GNA

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