The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) in collaboration with other women groups are developing a National Gender Policy, to build a society devoid of discrimination for both men and women.

The policy, which would also serve as a tool for advancing gender equality and women empowerment targets in Ghana, would be based on key pillars to assist government address gender equality gaps and disparities.

Giving the highlights of the policy, Mrs. Jane Kwawu, International Gender Consultant, explained that there was the need to re-engineer an action plan as a new national gender policy in furtherance of the last policy document in 2004.

She gave the global trends of the numerous key instruments, protocols, treaties and resolutions, which had been signed already from 1979 through to 2007 and said though these documents were available, “It is necessary that we re-write the gender policy to incorporate the new developments”.

Some of the protocols and treaties include the Cairo ICPD Consensus in 1994, the Beijing Platform for Action UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, AU Solemn Declaration on Gender and Advancement of Women and the Revised ECOWAS Treaty and Gender Policy.

Mrs. Kwawu noted that it was necessary to recognize that women’s access to gender justice and accountability was a basic human right and the review would address all the identified gaps to enrich the new policy.

Participants attending the day's consultative meeting were drawn from MOWAC, its partners from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Development Partners, UN Agencies, Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender, peace security groups, human rights groups, men and children groups.

The meeting was to debate key issues of the working draft of the National Gender Policy, present gender gaps, disparities issues and policy commitment in the sectors and agencies, debate and agree on policy pillars, brainstorm an institutional framework focusing on roles and responsibilities and suggest actions for implementation of the policy over the three to five years.

Mrs. Kwawu explained that in the absence of a national policy, specific legislations had been formulated to ensure legitimacy of gender equality and women’s rights issues and cited Domestic Violence Act Sector 207 (Act 732), the Human Trafficking Acts 205 (Act 694), The Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653). The Gender Consultant also outlined some of the challenges facing gender equality and mentioned lack of political will to implement affirmative action plan of the 40 per cent quota for women in decision making positions.

“At least there must be 30 per cent representation of women at all levels while working towards achievements of the 40 per cent and later 50/50 representation targets set by the African Union. This is an accountability challenge”.

Other challenges include gender relations, feminization of poverty, violence against women, women in politics, systemic housing challenges, maternal mortality and reproductive health, enforcement of laws, HIV and AIDS, decent work and economic empowerment of women.

She called for the need to domesticate the country’s efforts, have a strong advocate and reinforce the right-based development discourse to improve government capacity in embracing women’s rights as human rights.

Mr. Gershon Koku Kumor, acting Chief Director of MOWAC, said the ministry identified lack of overarching robust national gender policy and clear institutional framework as major gaps for government and development partners to live up to their commitments and accountability requirements for providing adequate financial and human capital to address gender equality, justice and women empowerment in national development.

He said the meeting would help formulate a new national gender policy, which would be separated from that of children and that MOWAC had already started engaging key partners from the MDAs and MMDAs in consultative meetings for the new policy to be developed.

Mrs. Joana Adzoa Opare, Executive Director, Gender Planning Consults Limited, stated that review of the national gender policy document needed to hold government accountable for ensuring that women’s rights were treated as human rights.