By Agnes Ansah, GNA
Accra, Nov.13, GNA-Stakeholders have called for a shift from good policy intentions to tangible improvements in women’s livelihoods, economic opportunities and decision-making power, particularly for women in agriculture.
The stakeholders said good policy intentions, while necessary, were not sufficient unless they were translated into measurable change in women’s lives.
The call was made at the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Ghana’s project close-out conference held in Accra on the theme; “Beyond Intent: Re-examining Policies and Their Implications for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ghana.”
The WEE-Ghana project is a three-year initiative which promoted effective policies for women’s economic empowerment in Ghana.
It focused on financial inclusion, digitalisation, gender-responsive public spending, domestic revenue mobilisation and employment, all of which have important implications for women in agriculture.
Naa Oyoe Sackey of the Women in Agricultural Development Directorate, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said women played indispensable roles across Ghana’s agricultural value chains, including production, processing, marketing and agribusiness, noting that such role was central to household food security, nutrition, rural livelihoods and the national economy at large.
However, she stated that despite those contributions, many women in agriculture continued to face challenges relating to access to productive resources, including land, affordable finance, appropriate technologies, extension services, markets and opportunities for value addition.
She said those challenges limited women’s productivity, profitability, competitiveness and ability to fully benefit from investment and interventions in the agricultural sector.
Madam Sackey emphasised that women’s economic empowerment in agriculture, could not be achieved through isolated interventions, but required deliberate, coordinated and sustained efforts to address the structural barriers constraining women’s participation and advancement.
For instance, she explained, access to appropriate and affordable financial services could enable women farmers and entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, while digitalisation could improve access to agricultural information, services and markets.
She added that gender-responsive public spending could ensure resources were directed towards addressing the specific needs and constraints of women, while recognising unpaid care responsibilities was essential for women to participate meaningfully in productive and economic activities.
Madam Patricia Blankson Akakpo, a representative of the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), said the project had brought together researchers, civil society organisations and women’s rights organisations in a model of co-learning that strengthened policy research and advocacy.
She revealed that women in Ghana spent an average of 6.7 hours a day on unpaid care work compared to 3.4 hours for men, a burden that limited access to paid work, leadership opportunities and meaningful participation in public life.
She said the evidence emerging from the project should not end with the close-out conference but should inform ongoing policy dialogue, institutional reform, programme design and practical interventions that respond to the realities of women across Ghana, particularly those in agriculture.
Madam Akakpo urged all stakeholders to move beyond acknowledging women’s contributions to creating the conditions that enable them to thrive economically, ensuring women were not merely beneficiaries of development policies but participants, contributors and decision-makers in shaping Ghana’s economic future.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Agnes Ansah
Email: [email protected]