Women and girls all over the African continent and the world at large are subjected to unfair and discriminatory treatment of one kind or the other, the consequences are grievous and long-term impact.
It is unfortunate that females are virtually regarded as "second
class citizens" and thus, not given equal recognition as their male counterparts.
The culture of African societies has made it commonplace for women to be tagged with domestic work such as
cooking, caring for the family and washing, amongst others. Unfortunately,
these services are paid for when rendered outside the home but regarded as the duty
of the woman when rendered internally. Even in some churches, women are not allowed to lead the congregation aside
their ascribed role of singing.
In some communities, for
instance, education for the girl child is considered a privilege and not a
right, with the popular belief that she
would end up in a man's house and would be cared
for by her husband. Others too believe
that if she is educated, it would be a waste
of resources by the parents since her wealth would remain in her husband's
house.
A girl who narrated
her ordeal, which led to her early marriage, said she had to get married to the
man because she wanted to attain tertiary education but her family was not ready
to sponsor her. According
to her, they said she was not going to stay in the family forever, but the man
was willing to pay the fees only if she would agree to marry him.
Also,
girls are subjected to work which are deleterious to the lives, education, psychological and physical well-being of the girl child. In rural settings,
for instance, girls are made to carry fuel-wood and charcoal, among others from a long distance to the market to sell
and take care of herself and to support their families. This kind
of treatment is more rampant in the Northern part of Ghana because poverty is
considerably high in that area.
The worst form is that girls are traded at a tender age to men as a means of poverty alleviation mechanism. Not too
long ago, two
men in Jirapa in the Upper West Region were arrested by the police for abetting
the marriage of two basic school girls
What about the sixteen-year-old
basic school girl who was forcefully married off to a man in his thirties after
she was impregnated by him?
As part of efforts by the international community to fight
discrimination against women, the United Nations General Assembly established
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and adopted it in 1979, which
Ghana, along
with other countries,
ratified on July 17, 1980.
The Convention describes discrimination against women as any
distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the
purpose of impairing the recognition, and fair treatment of women on a basis of
equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the
political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.
In spite
of all these efforts to get women to enjoy all their rights, privileges, and
equal opportunities without any form of segregation, cultural beliefs, customs
and traditions are also in opposition thwarting those efforts.
In the 21st century,
this notion of women for homes and kitchens must be eschewed and nipped in the
bud if real development must be the priority of every nation.
It is, therefore, high time state parties and their agencies and institutions both private and public got on their feet and fought for the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls.
To achieve the objective of fighting discrimination against women,
state parties, government and private sector institutions and agencies must institute
a quota system to get a good
representation of women into the leadership of the states. This would also bolster
the voices of women who are considered the vulnerable group in society.
Girl child education is also a major tool for empowering women to rise against discrimination. Education for
the girl child is a source of wealth for their personal development and the development
of the nation as a whole.
In view of this, governments must increase their financial commitments
towards programmes, policies and activities to build the capacity of girls and
women to adequately compete with their male counterparts in all fields of human endeavor.
Moving further, individuals, groups of persons or organisations that discriminate against
any person or group of persons based on sex must be allowed to face the full rigors
of the law to serve as a deterrent to
others who may want to tread on similar grounds.
The course and welfare of women must also be considered a priority and
be given more preference if we are to satisfy our quest to remove all forms of
discrimination against them.
Women and girls will forever remain an enviable asset for peace and
national development without whom all efforts of men would be in vain.
