Accra, Mar. 10, GNA — Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources and Caretaker Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection has called for the recognition of women as part of the solution to climate change.
She said women and girls had important roles as “primary land, water, and natural resources managers” and were powerful agents of change in formulating responses to climate change thus must be involved in finding solutions to climate issues.
Mrs Dapaah in a speech read on her behalf at a seminar to commemorate the International Women’s Day celebration, said women were vital in the alleviation of climate change, largely due to their critical roles in energy efficiency.
The seminar, organised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) in partnership with the United Nations Ghana, European Union, Global Affairs Ghana, Actionaid and Star-Ghana, was on the theme: “Climate Change, Empowering the Ghanaian Woman for a Sustainable Tomorrow.”
The International Women’s Day, instituted by the United Nations, is to globally celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women, past, present and future.
The Day, celebrated annually on 8th March, is also to rally support at all levels to ensure that the rights and empowerment of women in all areas of national development are prioritised.
This year’s theme, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” with a campaign theme #breakthebias, seeks to recognise the contribution of women and girls globally, who are leading the campaign for climate change adaptation, mitigation and response to build a more sustainable future for all.
Mrs Dapaah said women and girls were receptive to greener sources of energy, had the power to change consumption patterns, early adopters of new agricultural techniques and first responders when disaster struck.
Hence, interventions to address climate change, she said, would not be successful and sustainable if they were excluded.
The Caretaker Minister emphasised that to incorporate a gender perspective successfully and effectively, women and girls must have equal access to information, knowledge, capacity building, resources and technology, prerequisites for influencing climate change in the country.
She said it had been proven that climate change could have adverse effects on women’s and girls’ safety and security, thus, increased the burden of their unpaid care work and limited their access to natural resources, clean water, food, transport, energy, sanitation, housing, among others.
To effectively and efficiently manage that, she said, the MoGCSP had enhanced collaboration with development partners, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and Civil Society Organisations, academia and research institutions with the institutionalisation of quarterly review sessions to assess the achievement of set targets.
Mrs Dapaah commended all women in the country for their immense contribution to national development as well as stakeholders who were working to address the structural barriers to women and gender equality in order to build sustainable and resilient societies.
Mr Charles Abanii, United Nations Resident Coordinator, said globally, women represented about 49.58 per cent of the world population, an estimated 3.905 billion.
Yet, Mr Abanii said, most of the sectors that drove the global economy, including Ghana were disproportionately dominated by men and their contributions at the national and international levels, while tangible, were often downplayed.
This year’s theme, he said, directly linked bias to the underlying social fabric that undermined women and made it difficult for them to progress.
Mr Abanii stated that while reaffirming the UN’s commitment to gender equality, it called on the global community to put an end to this bias.
“To achieve this, women must be seen. They must be seen for their exceptional strength, grace, valour, wit, and host of many attributes so that, together, we can break those false narratives showcasing women as fragile and docile,” he said.
The UN Resident Coordinator urged that stories of courageous women, who challenged gender bias and discrimination in the face of unimaginable opposition, such as Yaa Asantewaa, Asante Kingdom’s queen mother and Brigadier-General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, the first female Brigadier-General of the Ghana Armed Forces must be told and retold.
Mr Abanii noted that the achievements of women in society had often been met with a lot of negative reactions from men due to entrenched socio-cultural norms, causing most women to be relegated to unpaid care work, while men were left to achieve higher career prospects.
GNA