Nana Oye Lithur – Minister for Gender & Social Protection
The United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women’s 58 session opened at New York with a call from Ghana to the global community to consider gender as a cross cutting issue for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Based on statistics, Nana Oye Lithur, Ghana’s Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection in a paper presented during the session explained that about 70 per cent of the global 1.4 billion poor constitute women.
She said girls are more likely to stay out of school because of socio-cultural factors whilst women are more susceptible HIV infection.
“When gender issues are addressed, we will achieve the MDGs. It is from this inferred position that I find the theme for this Session most appropriate as 2015 draws closer,” Nana Oye Lithur stated.
The Gender Minister whose presentation was obtained by the Ghana News Agency stressed that Ghana has made remarkable progress towards achieving the MDGs.
“With respect to MDG 1, Ghana is on track to achieving target 1 on reducing by half, the proportion of population living in extreme poverty by 2015.
“The national poverty rate of people living below the upper poverty line has dropped from 51.7 per cent in 1991 to 28.5 per cent in 2006, while extreme poverty incidence reduced from 36.5 per cent to 18.2 per cent.
“The poverty gap ratio in Ghana has continued to decline from 36 in 1991/92 to 34 in 2005/06. The trend indicates a decline to approximately 25 in 2014,” she noted.
Nana Oye Lithur who is also the President of the Bureau of Ministers of Social Development for ECOWAS countries noted that poverty levels according to the gender of the household head indicate that female headed households are on the average less poor than male headed households.
“We have successfully reduced by half, underweight children ahead of 2015 and can achieve the target of reducing the prevalence of wasting by half ahead of 2015,” she noted.
She said Ghana has also made impressive progress over the last two decades in promoting gender equality in access to primary education, even though Gender disparity in school enrolment and retention continues to be a challenge.
She said the percentage of girls’ enrollment in primary school has increased between academic years 2002/03 to 2012/13 from 47.6 percent to 48.8 percent. The Gross Enrolment rate was measured at 93.7 percent. Poverty has however been identified as the most significant factor in gender disparities in the completion of education.
Ghana has implemented a number of strategic policies, programmes and interventions to achieve its national and international targets which include the Education Strategy Plan (2003) and the 2010 Education Strategic Plan.
She said these provide a framework for achieving Ghana’s objectives and the targets are gender parity by 2005 and universal primary completion by 2015.
The Gender Minister identified other government interventions as the creation of a Girls Education Directorate, free scholarships for girls, building female teacher role models for girls, and abolition of school fees in all basic schools.
Additionally, 596,089 pupils across Ghana are provided with one hot meal a day Ghana is committed to ensuring gender equality and empowerment of women.
Significant progress in gender equality in the public sphere has been made and the Government has instituted a number of multi-disciplinary measures to ensure a coordinated and concerted approach to address the remaining challenges.
Nana Oye Lithur said Gender parity in schools in Ghana is closest to being achieved at the primary level where net enrolment in 2011 was 84.04 for boys and 83.77 for girls.
She said the female participation rate is 66.9 per cent; literacy rate for young women has increased considerably from 66 per cent in 2000 to 79.9 per cent in 2010.
The overall literacy rate for females is 61.2 per cent due to regional disparities. However, employers who are female are 3.7 per cent, only 27 per cent of females own a bank account.
Female labour participation rate is 66.9 per cent, with females constituting the majority of the 92 per cent labour force in the informal sector.
The Gender Minister noted that Ghana’s economy thrives on small and medium enterprises and this is dominated by women as World Bank statistics from 2010 illustrate that 84 per cent of active Ghanaian female population are considered to be engaged in vulnerable employment meaning unpaid family work or own account work.
To promote women’s inclusion in the economic sector, Government has introduced the Labour Intensive Public Works as a social intervention under the Ministry of Local Government, and this offers seasonal employment to 53,588 females representing 57.9 per cent of the beneficiaries, she said.
In terms of political participation of women, progress since 2000 has been variable. The target for 2015 is 30 per cent. The average for sub Saharan Africa is 22.3 percent in 2013 while Ghana’s proportion is 10.9 for the same year.
Women’s human rights have come a long way but there is still much to do and little time to do it in, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today opening the 2014 session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which this year will focus on development, particularly education and reproductive rights.
Meanwhile the UN Secretary General Mr Ban Kin Moon in an address noted: “We cannot achieve a world of dignity for all until we end gender inequality in all its forms”.
Mr. Ban told the 58th session of the CSW, underway at UN Headquarters in New York and scheduled to wrap up on 21 March that more girls are in school, but we are far from ending gender disparity at all levels of education.
He said, gender gaps are particularly stark among rural populations and for persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized groups.
Mr. Ban said that the UN is also committed to helping Governments provide the education and quality sexual and reproductive health services that too many women and adolescent girls lack.
“Child deaths are dropping significantly, but too many children still die needlessly before the age of five,” he said. “The number of women who die each year from pregnancy and childbirth has dropped by almost half, but too many women still die every day due to pregnancy-related causes”.
Mr. Ban noted the need to provide adequate sanitation and end open defecation, a practice that is linked to one of the greatest current challenges of the MDGs.
More than 2.5 billion people lack the benefits of adequate sanitation, and nearly half of those people practice open defecation, according to UN figures.
Proper sanitary facilities would significantly reduce ill-health and environmental pollution, Mr. Ban said, and also enhances the personal safety of women and girls who are often risk sexual abuse for lack of a safe, clean toilet.
He also reiterated his calls on men and boys to support the rights of their mothers, sisters and daughters.
“Men and boys have a vital role,” Mr. Ban said, noting that he has established a network of men leaders to speak out against violence as part of the complimentary UNiTE to End Violence Against Women campaign, which works with women and men to raise awareness and change attitudes, customs and practices.
In her remarks, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said that the MDGs and the Beijing Platform for Action are both about making the lives of women and girls better.
“We have to align our post-2015 efforts with this purpose. For more positive outcomes in the future, let us plan the future with greater impact and sustainability in mind,” she noted.
She said the struggle for woman’s empowerment is more than 100 years old and there is a determined intergenerational force that wants to see a sense of urgency and determination on behalf of the world about avoiding the possibility of wasting another generation.
“We can and must do better because equality for women is progress for all! We must make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today,” declared Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka.
The CSW is due to conclude on 21 March. Until then, more than 135 events organized by UN agencies will be held at Headquarters, alongside the official meetings of the Commission.
According to UN Women, an additional 300 parallel events will be hosted by the NGO community close to the UN premises.
Nana Oye Lithur also used the occasion to hold discussions with UNDP, USAIDS and UN Women Representatives on the sidelines of the meeting.
Source: GNA
