54TH SESSION OF THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
The conference was attended by representatives of member states, UN Entities and Non-Governmental Organizations from all regions of the world. Ghana’s delegation led by Hon. Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, included the Chairman and some members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Children, experts and representatives of MDAs, NGOs, and Civil society groups.
The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro opened the meeting and urged Government ministers to replicate successful policies and programmes to end violence against women and improve women’s education, maternal health and role in decision-making. Ms. Migiro noted that Governments, spurred by activist women’s groups and networks, had made gains through legal reform, sector-specific initiatives and efforts to improve data collection.
She underlined that the results were clear, more and more people now understood that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls was not just a goal in itself, but a key to sustainable development, economic growth, and peace and security. She stressed that despite such advances in most countries, laws were not fully enforced and negative stereotypes continued to block positive change. She further encouraged Member States to explore how to scale up and better support such practices where women are fully represented, and underlined that standing up for women’s rights and development is standing up for the global good.
Round table and several panel discussions provided the opportunity for Ministers and senior officials to participate in an interactive dialogue to exchange experiences on linkages between the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) and the achievement of the MDGs, regional perspectives in progress achieved and remaining gaps and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, 30 years of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, women’s economic empowerment in the context of the economic and financial crisis, uniting to end violence against women and the evolving status and role of national mechanisms for gender equality.
During a high-level plenary discussion and at a parallel event organized by Ghana in the margins of the Conference, Ghana shared her perspective and experiences on the evolution of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) and how it plans to promote gender equality through institutional re-engineering involving women at the grassroots levels. The Minister highlighted some of the challenges facing the MOWAC which include programmatic issues resulting from the way the Ministry’s mandate is interwoven with that of other Ministries. Also, existing structures for policy coordination do not support the mandate of MOWAC and inadequacy of funds and human resources to deliver on the mandate of MOWAC is another hindrance.
In highlighting the achievements of MOWAC, Ghana was applauded for how far it had come. The fact that a policy directive had been issued to fully roll out gender responsive budgeting across MDAs was particularly noted as good practice. MOWAC’s role in coordinating and collaborating with 16 key sectors of the economy including Health, Agriculture and Education was recognized as good practice. The most outstanding achievement of Ghana was MOWAC’s Central Management role in Cabinet. Indeed it was obvious that Ghana is still a leader in Africa. Other countries expressed the intention to replicate it in their countries.
On the legal framework, Ghana had enacted legislation like the Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Acts, criminalized sexual offences and passed laws on women’s rights in marriage and divorce. Social protection policies targeting poor women had been introduced, among them, the National Health Insurance Scheme, with women constituting almost 50 per cent of the registrants.
Additionally, programmes like the Free School Uniforms and One Laptop for Every Child had contributed immensely to improve access to education. Gender disparity in primary and secondary education would most likely be eliminated by 2015. Further, policies had been put in place to address Ghana’s high maternal mortality rate, including a Health Service Act that ensured free maternal care. Women’s equal participation in social, cultural, economic and political life was a prerequisite for successful and sustainable development. Additionally, women had been appointed to key positions which, in the past, had been male-dominated, including the Speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice.
Comments and contributions from the floor recognized women’s progress for social justice in Ghana as good practice. The role of NGOs, Development Partners and the Private Sector in promoting gender issues through reporting, media sensitization, education and advocacy on sensitive issues was also acknowledged.
Ghana was applauded for appointing a female Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice and Attorney General and Minister of Justice but surprise was expressed that Ghana had still not achieved 30 per cent threshold for women’s representation in the public sector as outlined in the Affirmative Action Policy Guidelines. Some participants were hopeful that come next year Ghana will achieve at least 40 per cent public representation and gender parity in education.
On 2 March 2010, the United Nations General Assembly marked the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in a commemorative meeting during CSW. The Commission also observed the International Women’s day on 3rd March, 2010.
A planning meeting on the African Women’s Decade (AWD) was held by the AU Commission, at the margins of the 54th Session of the CSW for Ministers, Experts and CSO partners to discuss activities for the launching of the Decade at the local, national, regional and continental levels. The AWD proposed by AU Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs at their extra –Ordinary Meeting in Maseru, Lesotho in December 2008, was adopted by Heads of State and Governments, who declared 2010 to 2020 as African Women’s Decade (AWD). The aim of the Decade is to advance gender equality and accelerate implementation of gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) through a dual top down and bottom up approach which is inclusive of grassroots participation.
The Commission wrapped up its fifty-fourth session on 12 March, adopting resolutions on a range of issues dealing with key women’s economic empowerment issues, women, girl child, HIV/AIDS, protecting women and girls from harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, and providing assistance to Palestine women. The Commission further adopted a resolution on eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment of Women.
Conclusion
The session was forward-looking. On gender-responsive budgeting, the general opinion was that commitments on financing for gender equality had not gone far enough and that leadership and accountability need to be further addressed. The session acknowledged that gender equality had not been well integrated in macro-economic policies and private sector has not been formally brought on board as a major partner. Indeed, there remained a gap between commitments and full implementation on the ground, as practical application of plans and policies was challenged by non-effective financing.
MOWAC was commended for being on the right path to reengineering its institutional mechanisms towards effective gender equality and women’s empowerment.