One of the pioneers of gender equality in the country, Professor Akua Kuenyehia has lamented what she describes as the slow pace of Ghana’s achievement with respect to gender parity.

“Personally, I think [the] progress is very slow and sometimes frustrating. I mean we are in the 21st century and we’re still talking about empowering women” she told 3FM in New York on the sidelines of the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women.

Professor Kuenyehia who was one of three judges on the ICC chaired Ghana’s side of the CSW on the Theme “The Economic Empowerment of Women n the Cocoa Industry in Ghana”.

She explained Ghana was “looking at empowering the rural woman in terms of economic; this particular presentation by Ghana was to showcase the Ghanaian rural woman especially in the cocoa industry.

The industry is one of our biggest economic activity and it was to showcase the role women play in the sector, what their challenges are so that they can be helped to achieve the maximum not just for themselves but for the entire country” she added.

Touching on the focus of the 2017 conference, she stated the Conference was concentrating on women at the work place because that is the problem women have. “Even though they work all the time, their work is not always recognized.

For instance when you are a house wife, it is assumed you don’t work. But if you calculate the amount of time that goes into cooking, cleaning washing and taking care of children, it’s a lot.

“So the objective is to look at women at the work place and how they can be helped to make the maximum impact” Prof. Kuenyehia said.

She however maintained “progress is slow and I think that’s how it is all over the world’. The 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women currently underway in New York is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The CSW conference is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

It was established by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946. This year’s theme is Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work.