Koforidua, Sept. 16, GNA - The Eastern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Emmanuel Quaye-Sowah, has called on women to close their ranks and fight for their empowerment.

According to him, some women hate to see other women progressing, thereby would go all out on divisive tendencies just to achieve their negative objectives.

This, he said, must be addressed to encourage women to support their fellow women.

Mr Quaye-Sowah who was speaking at a follow-up forum on Women's Manifesto for Ghana at Koforidua on Friday, noted that illiteracy, non-enforcement of laws and cultural inhibitions were factors militating against the realization of women rights.

He stressed that the Constitution recognizes the fundamental rights and freedoms of all citizens and urged government to show political will in ensuring the enforcement of laws pertaining to women. The Regional Director, therefore, urged women to be proactive and deepen their participation in all affairs of national interest including local governance.

The Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Ms Franscisca Bortey, asked women to support fellow women in responsible positions to ensure that they succeed, "because if they succeed, it strengthens credibility to our cause for gender equity that women can also hold positions".

The Eastern Regional Director of the NCWD, Ms Jane Kwapong, called for the strengthening of laws against defilement, widowhood rites and female genital mutilation, saying such dehumanising practices still persisted in the society, despite the campaign against them. She also urged the Abantu for Development to speed up the translation of the Manifesto into local languages to ensure that people could read and understand the provisions of the document in their own language.