Koforidua, March 9, GNA – Marking International Women’s Day 2026, the Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation (HDMF) has welcomed Ghana’s new Affirmative Action law but cautions that it must deliver real power, resources and daily improvements for women and girls.
In a statement to the Ghana News Agency on Sunday to mark International Women’s Day, Madam Otiko Afisah Djaba, Executive Director of HDMF, said the passage of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) law was a “line drawn in history,” but noted that “laws alone do not transform societies.”
She traced what she called a generational shift, moving from a past where girls “faced systemic inequalities in education, political representation, economic opportunities and basic respect,” to women “who began to push back and claim their rightful place in society.”
She said girls had long been encouraged to be patient, to wait their turn, to dream within set boundaries, leaving many to suffer in silence for decades.
“Today, a girl in Tamale can imagine herself a minister of state, an engineer or a member of parliament,” she added. At the same time, “a young woman in Somanya can see leadership as her right, not her rebellion.”
She noted that girls across Ghana were not only entering classrooms but “claiming laboratories, boardrooms, parliament, and movements that once shut them out.”
That change, she noted, was forcing institutions to confront a simple truth that women must participate equally and equitably in all sectors of development.
She explained that women across communities all over Ghana were refusing silence and amplifying their voices for jobs, equal pay, political representation, safety, and respect.
Madam Djaba said the push to increase women’s representation had not been a gift, but a correction of history, culminating in the passage of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) law.
She said the law represented more than a policy milestone and signalled a national commitment to dismantle the long-standing barriers that had restricted women’s leadership, decision-making and participation in development.
“Let’s be clear: this law did more than increase numbers; it shifted power. It challenged centuries of exclusion and forced institutions to confront the truth that talent has never been the problem.
The laws she explained opened doors, “but it is our collective responsibility to ensure those doors remained to open and lead to real opportunity, real representation and real power for women and girls.”
Madam Djaba said representation must be translated into resources and investments in the development of girls and women, while participation must be translated into power, insisting equality must shift from policy to their everyday lives.
The Foundation she said celebrated the gains and progress made so far and called for stronger implementation of the Affirmative Action law, greater support for girls’ education, leadership, and more meaningful participation of women in governance and economic life
She called for effective implementation, sustained investment, and strong accountability mechanisms to ensure the law delivers real impact.
Madam Djaba appealed to civil society, government institutions, development partners, and communities to work together for the promises of the law to be translated into tangible opportunities for girls and women across the country, especially those in marginalised and underserved communities.”
“When girls and women succeed, homes and communities rise, and when they are empowered, Ghana moves forward, and Ghana rises,” she said, calling on men and women to work together to achieve accelerated development of Ghana
“As we commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, let’s challenge ourselves to protect the gains and use the theme ‘Give to Gain’ as a clarion call to push for deeper change and accelerate gender equality and equity now,” she said.
GNA
Edited by D.I. Laary/Linda Asante Agyei