PRESS STATEMENT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS ON THE RECENT ASSAULT AGAINST MS URSULA OWUSU AND OTHERS

We view with dismay the gradual plunging of our dear nation Ghana into mayhem as a result of political violence which is now characterizing the biometric registration going on in anticipation of the December elections.

The Battering of Ms Ursula Owusu calls for great concern because the incident is creating a test case for women who may wish to venture into politics, and the situation is not encouraging for them. Political violence is a disincentive to women’s political participation. Such attacks on women candidates foster intimidation and erode the political space for their meaningful political participation. Now more than ever, we need more women’s voices in Ghanaian politics to help redefine our political priorities as a nation that is fast achieving middle income status. Issues about women and children must be given priority in the national agenda so they do not end up at the peripheral . Who best can articulate these issues than Ghanaian women in the political arena. Violence against women in politics has nothing positive to offer our nation. It goes to affirm the belief that politics is a no go area for women, a notion which is not only untrue, but counter -productive. Macho men are not above the law, their behavior only shows the socio-cultural climate of our society, were gender roles are perpetuated through violence in any form against women.

We are equally disappointed by the inaction of the security agencies and their apparent lack of strategy and cooperation, to help forestall such violence in the various constituencies. This is the time for them to uphold and defend the good people of Ghana and to take firm control of the security situation in order to nip in the bud any disaster that maybe looming ahead of us.
We call on the President His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills to take every swift and necessary action against these dastardly acts to buttress the assurances he has given to Ghanaians concerning his stand against violence. Such an action from his Excellency will not only give better meaning to our democracy, it will give potential female candidates confidence and hope in the governance system. Such as action is also critical if there are any lessons that must be learnt from our neighboring war torn countries. Their nations did not plunge into war over night; it all began with pockets of violence that was ignored.

We call on all well meaning Ghanaians who are interested in defending our young fledgling democracy to condemn the unrest being created through these violent incidents as they have a potential of eroding our modest gains and taking us many steps backwards
We call on women’s rights organizations to join hands through advocacy, education to guarantee that women in politics are protected. This is the time for us to be tenacious and forge ahead to ensure that we attain that critical mass of women in decision making. It is vital for our development and survival as a nation, because without the incorporation of women’s perspectives at all levels of decision making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.

JANE QUAYE
SIGNED
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
FIDA-GHANA

FIDA-Ghana Annual Report 2010

Enhancing the Status of Women

And Children in Ghana for

Development

“More countries have understood that women’s equality is a prerequisite for development,”      – Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations

Introduction

FIDA-Ghana is committed to addressing discriminatory practices in the society, and promoting and protecting the rights of women and children in Ghana. FIDA’S vision is for a society that is fair and just, and free from discrimination where the rights of women, children and the vulnerable are recognized, respected and protected. Since its inception in 1968, FIDA has made great gains in its activities, awareness-raising and capacity-building. The year 2010 was no exception.

FIDA works in several program areas in order to enhance the status of women in Ghana;

• Legal Aid Services and Literacy
• Education and Sensitization on Gender-Related Issues
• Mobile Outreach Programs on Law and Human Rights
• Advocacy for Gender Sensitive Legislation
• Research on Socio-legal Issues Affecting Women and Children
• Collaboration with other Women’s Related Organizations

 FORWARD

The International Federation of Women Lawyers-Ghana, (FIDA-Ghana) has consistently, promoted women’s human rights especially through its legal aid programs. Over the years the organisation has sought through its strategic directions to create the space and needed environment for the protection and enhancement of women’s rights in Ghana. FIDA has worked at the international, regional and national levels through various strong collaborations to ensure a holistic and workable frame work for the general empowerment of women.

 2010, the year under review has provided opportunities to push the women’s agenda forward. Provision of legal aid services in the form of counselling, mediation, court representation and legal outreaches have continued in earnest.  Favourable political environment has contributed towards addressing women’s rights issues.  Opportunities for regional networking to create awareness on the women’s decade, the protocol to the African charter on human and peoples rights on the rights of women were gained. These forums were used to build organisational capacity for civil society organisations like FIDA on the critical issues facing women and the way forward. At the local level, opportunities to address issues of women’s participation in governance were harnessed with network partners towards the local district assembly elections. In puts were also made into important national policy documents such as the National Strategic Framework document for the Ghana Aids Commission, to contribute in making it gender responsive. Existing partnerships with development partners were strengthened whilst new ones were sought for the achievement of a better gender agenda for women.

The year in review also brought is challenges. The global economic downturn has affected economies, and this has had dire consequences on women’s empowerment generally. Persistent violations of rights of women, HIV and Aids, Maternal mortality are issues that need continuous attention and re-strategising around, for example working with most at risk populations (MARPS) to help Ghana achieve its target of reducing HIV new infections by 30%, Most important of all dwindling of donor funding has called for seeking opportunities in non traditional sources and the private sector.

In spite of it all, FIDA-Ghana continues to exhibit a strong resilience in its effort to help create a society that is fair and just, and free from discrimination where the rights of women, children, and the vulnerable are recognized, respected and protected

Legal Aid Services

The Legal Aid Services programme is FIDA-Ghana’s core project.  FIDA-Ghana established the first Legal Aid Programme in the country in January 1985 and a second one in Kumasi in 1997. FIDA-Ghana’s Legal Aid Program provides services in the following areas

    Alternate dispute resolution and court representation; Child maintenance and paternity of children; Custody of children and child marriages; Enforcing inheritance rights of adolescents who will otherwise fall prey to exploitative sexual activities for reasons of survival; Enforcing the inheritance rights of HIV/AIDS orphans; Enforcing the property rights of spouses, particularly upon divorce.

Through this programme, individuals receive free or reduced-cost legal advice and dispute

mediation by volunteer lawyers in Accra, Kumasi and Koforidua.  The individuals who utilize the programme are usually those who cannot afford the filing fees required to appear in court, much less a lawyer.

FIDA-Ghana offers Legal Aid services three days a week: Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays.

FIDA’s Legal Aid Program in Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua, Tamale and Bolgatanga continues to earn immense credibility and popularity.  FIDA is now taking steps towards the creation of a Victim’s Support Fund which will enable expanded court representation to our clients as well as create funds available for medical emergencies and transportation stipends for our clients who struggle to afford travel and transportation costs.

Paralegal Training

FIDA-Ghana identifies an important need to sustain and upscale the work of its paralegals. An assessment of their activities has revealed that it is not only sufficient to train them in the laws but to continue sharpening their expertise in engaging different sectors of their community.

It is envisaged that the refresher training programs will make these paralegals more competent in their quest to provide particularly women with access to justice. It is also anticipated that years from now, many women will have benefited from the services of these already existing paralegals.

In partnership with the Open Society of West Africa, OSIWA,

refresher trainings were conducted for already existing paralegals in Ashanti and Greater Accra  to sharpen the expertise and skills of the paralegals to be able to work more effectively and meet the new challenges that are confronting them each day. It has also helped them to have the knowledge necessary to be able to support women affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. Paralegal Associations drew up action plans for the year 2010 outlining the schedule of programs and activities which they have already begun implementing.

Production of Documentary June 2010

This documentary supported by OSIWA, captures stories of women who have been denied access to justice in their communities, and paralegals accounts of women’s rights abuses in their communities.

FIDA had an opportunity to air this documentary to law students in Accra. The aim of airing the documentary to law students was to sensitize them on women’s rights and mobilize legal volunteers to assist with the provision of pro-bono services to clients at FIDA-Ghana. Out of a class of 104 students, 84 law students indicated their interest to be part of FIDA’s legal aid volunteers.     

Legal Literacy Education Projects

“Legal Literacy” education projects are a part of FIDA-Ghana’s innovative programs to contribute to women’s long-lasting and social empowerment. FIDA’s Legal Literacy programs involve the simplification, interpretation and translation (principal local languages) of legislation, particularly those that affect women and children. These programs are held in all ten regions of the country and with an increase in funding, can be extended to all districts. FIDA’s legal literacy programs are aimed at making community members aware of their rights, in hopes that this awareness will ultimately result in their development.

Mobile Outreach Programs on Law and Human Rights

ABOASO MOBILE OUTREACH PROGRAM AND AHWIAA MOBILE OUTREACH PROGRAM BY KWABRE EAST PARALEGALS ASSOCIATION.

A total number of 500 community members within the Aboaso and Ahwiaa communities have been sensitized about the basic Ghanaian laws. This was accomplished with the support of the German…..

This group consisted of 331 men, 263 women, and 103 children. The main objective of the mobile outreaches was to make the community members in general and women in particular aware of the existence of the human rights laws in Ghana, its contents and implications. There was strong collaboration and support from the District Assemblies (DAs), chiefs, opinion leaders, and traditional leaders of the Aboaso and Ahwiaa communities.

Presentations were then delivered by the lawyers from FIDA-Ghana. The topics were on human rights, gender, family laws and domestic violence. These issues are the major areas where rights abuses and violations of women occur. The presentations on “Marriage and Divorce Laws” introduced the participants to various types of marriages such as the Islamic, Ordinance, and Customary marriages.

FIDA\UNFPA TWO DAYS ALL MALE TRAINING IN SOUTH TONGU AND AKATSI DISTRICTS

There is growing recognition that addressing gender inequities in health, promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), preventing HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence at all levels in society, is not possible without efforts to directly engage men and boys as partners in these processes. The program was held to create awareness of the rights of the Ghanaian woman in society and issues relating to; domestic violence, SRHR, maternal health, child health, and harmful cultural practices in Ghana.

In all, about 62 male participants took part in the programs.

From January to December 2010, the FIDA-Ghana Accra office dealt with cases that ranged from maintenance, paternity, estate, marital/matrimonial, issues/custody, among others. The center was able to address 1331 cases consisting of 416 new cases and 915 old cases (recorded in the table above). The bulk of the cases were marital (493) cases representing 37%, estate (308) or 23%, and then maintenance (287) or 22%. The next most reported cases included legal advice (156) or 12%, referrals (74) or 5%, and compensation (13) or 1%.

FIDA –Ghana through its Legal Aid Program has provided a haven for distressed women, mothers and children who previously did not know where to seek assistance for their legal problems. It has over the years created awareness nationwide among women and children of their rights and obligations and has generated among them the will and the courage to stand for their rights.

Tamale Case Results

No  Agent Please

The M.C. informed the gathering that the guest speaker’s address would be presented on behalf of the Chief Justice by her representative, Her Ladyship Justice Irene Dankwa. Justice Dankwa apologised for the absence of the Chief Justice – thereafter she read the chief justice’s address in which she thanked FIDA-Ghana for the invitation to participate in this the maiden conference for female lawyers and female executives. The Chief Justice congratulated FIDA-Ghana for what she termed a ‘laudable initiative’ in bringing together two hundred women from all over Ghana to deliberate on the theme ‘Women’s voices beyond the work space’ and its sub themes.

The Chief Justice spoke of women being plagued by varying limitations including those posed by opponents of women’s rights who back their stance with the Bible. She then went on to give innumerable examples of women mentioned in the Bible who she said ‘moved beyond their boundaries and limitations to pursue their duties with diligence to the admiration of the good Lord’. The Chief Justice used those examples to buttress the point that the activities of FIDA-Ghana and similar organisations ‘have the backing of the heavens.’

The Chief Justice said that on 19th September, 2011, female Prime Ministers and Ministers at an event held during the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York signed a joint statement which affirmed “that women’s participation is fundamental to democracy and essential to the achievement of sustainable development and peace.” She was of the persuasion that women in leadership mattered and quoted Judy Rosener with whom she was in agreement who said that “women tend to exhibit different leadership attributes than men, not better or worse, merely different. They tend to be holistic rather than linear thinkers, they tend to negotiate in a win/win rather than a win/lose manner, they tend to be sensitive to subliminal cues and comfortable with ambiguity.”

The Chief Justice stated that societies fail when they refuse to recognise the necessity for women and girls to have access to education, and other social amenities, saying that it was impossible to separate the well being of girls and women from the well being of our communities, and our Nation. She said that though some achievements had been made in the realm of women’s rights issues, it did not mean that our voices were being heard. The Chief Justice called for a concerted push to in the words of Hilary Clinton “break this ceiling once and for all,” who was speaking of the proverbial glass ceiling.

The Chief Justice said that it was gratifying to learn of the proposed FIDA-Ghana endowment Fund for Primary Legal Care, saying that her office would be ready to support FIDA in another giant stride to champion the cause of women. She said there was a need to encourage women in all spheres, stressing that women understood their own challenges and therefore should determine the solutions. The Chief Justice called on all to “look for change makers amongst our young girls and women, and provide them with the opportunities to recognize their power to change the world.”

LAUNCHING OF ENDOWMENT FUND

Prior to the formal launch of the endowment fund, Mrs. Jane Quaye Executive Director of FIDA-Ghana made a short presentation on the motivation for the FIDA-Ghana endowment fund. She touched on FIDA’s long history in championing the rights of women; that FIDA had come to the realisation that without the education of women and girls, we as a nation would not get far in terms of development. She said that something was going very wrong in the structure of our society, noting that it was the reason why we were all gathered there.

Mrs. Quaye said Primary legal care is a preventive as opposed to a ‘putting out the fire’ kind of intervention. That when people are hungry and homeless, telling them of rights alone is not enough; that the fund is going to be like the sub-structure on which new rights and interventions would be built. That as women, FIDA-Ghana would be looking for space everywhere to articulate the issues of women and children, that the talk was over, it was now time for action. She spoke saying that even as Martin Luther King Jnr. had a dream, she also had a dream of men and women walking side by side, where women are empowered to influence, take their place at the decision-making level, have their voices heard.

Mrs. Quaye said that it was not enough for our development for the majority of our women to be down there, they needed to be brought up. FIDA-Ghana wants women of Ghana primarily from the corporate world to come and own the organisation, that their money was needed where the need was greatest. That if they were really sincere that they should put their money where their mouth is; that money was needed, therefore she was calling on all to come on board, to take over the organisation; that they were needed not just their money, but their human resource talent. Mrs. Quaye lamented the deprivation at Legal Aid- Ghana, and at DOVSSU, which keep bringing cases to FIDA-Ghana. Said that time had come for justice to flow for women and children in Ghana. She said that a communiqué on education of the girl-child would be issued and sent to Government.

Endowment fund was formally launched by Mrs. Amma Gaisie, who spoke of her honour to launch the fund after the impassioned pleas for support from Mrs. Quaye. The Minister and the Solicitor-General unveiled a mapped forecast for FIDA-Ghana’s endowment fund, which depicted how much it was hoped would be raised during the 5 year period culminating in the raising of One Million United States Dollars ($1,000,000.00). Mrs. Villas pledged personal support and promised to raise additional funds from the corporate world. The gathering implored Mrs. Villas to act as the chief fund raiser for the endowment fund, a role she graciously accepted to play.

INTRODUCTION OF PATRONS
The patrons of FIDA-Ghana, Mrs. Joyce Villas, Ms. Joyce Aryee, Mrs. Grace Amey-Obeng, Mr. Justice Menka-Premo, Ms. Gifty Anti, and Mr. Kofi Amoah, who unfortunately could not be present, were introduced to the gathering.

CLOSING REMARKS
The Chairperson, Mrs. Villas in giving her closing remarks commended FIDA–Ghana for the laudable results of its advocacy such as Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), and the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act 732) among other achievements. Mrs. Villas lamented the issue of pedestrian sellers being taxed for standing in the sun to sell; the dangers faced by women in the food distribution arena who sat on loaded trucks to sell their produce; not forgetting the plight of women working under in-humane conditions; markets without toilets, clinics, nurseries, or clean water. She said that these were the little things which needed to be addressed to ease the burden of women. She concluded by calling on all women’s groups to fight for their own, stressing that if they did not the men would not do it for us.

FIRST PRESENTATION
Mrs. Angela Dwamena Aboagye, Executive Director of the Ark Foundation – Ghana, gave a presentation titled ‘Women’s voices – Creating the space and visibility needed to drive National development.’ Mrs. Aboagye spoke of the socialisation and stereotyping of women which portrays them as subservient to men, saying that in finding our voices we needed to consider the effects of stereotyping. She lamented the fact that women were still seen as second class citizens.

Mrs. Aboagye said that women needed to invade the male centric public spaces which needed transformation; that women needed to be ready to attract names, refuse to be pigeon-holed. She said that although women worked hard, they did not know how policy was made, or the difference between law and policy. She explained that policy is where decision-making about life is made. Decisions on food, sanitation, water, environment remuneration are made in the policy spaces. Mrs. Aboagye said that there was a need for women’s advocacy to affect the broad spectrum of women’s rights issues not just individual women. She stressed the need to demand accountability, stating that it demands confronting power, which doesn’t like to shift, or change, adding that power corrupts. She said that in that room a lot of brilliant women were present, but largely invisible, that demanding accountability meant being visible, forming strategic alliances. She urged FIDA to begin to make those connections and even with men who believe in what they were doing. That, men already have space, that there was a need to be wary of men taking over the few spaces if brought on board.

Mrs. Aboagye said that those present were standing on the shoulders of foremothers who refused to be stereotyped and pigeon-holed, and therefore there was a need for us to understand that some people have worked for us to be where we are. She acknowledged all the women’s groups in Ghana, stressing that they were not enough by numbers, or resources or education to tackle what needed to be done. She flagged the contribution of unsung heroic women who championed the cause of women’s rights, saying that huge policy spaces were still unclaimed, and that women needed to take up those spaces, by initiating awareness, influencing policy for legal aid, economic aid, child care aid and other aids. Mrs. Aboagye flagged the issue of street women and children, generations of families living on the street. She spoke of the lack of law on sexual harassment, issue of property rights, widowhood rites, harmful customs, modern day slavery, trafficking of children and adult women, the dearth of women in decision-making, and the entrenchment of patriarchy. She said that we needed to get into public spaces, out of our comfort zone, to make alliances with other organisations, need for us to challenge the status quo not accommodate but transform.

SECOND PRESENTATION
Mrs. Dorothy Gordon, Director General of the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT gave the second presentation titled ‘Telecommunications and its impact on women’s wellbeing.’ She commended the women in the room for their ability to make change happen and impact the life of women. Continuing she said that IT had opened up new forms of discrimination against women, new crimes against women, new deprivations against women, as a result of IT’s ubiquity. Mrs. Gordon said that the Arab spring was an example of the mobilisation of people using the mobile phone and internet, that IT was giving people voice, mobility and reach. She said that Government had recently signed on to the open Government Partnership and asked where women were in it all? She lamented that hardly any women were to be found in the top echelon of the IT revolution.

Mrs. Gordon said that basic training on using the phone as an audio and video recorder to assist women was essential in the prevention of certain abuses; she asked if women were tech savvy? Saying that if we were, then we needed to take it up a notch, and move away from Cinderella to become Cyberella, who is an active knowledge creator and disseminator, not just a user. She spoke of Economist Amartya Kumar Sen the author of ‘Development as Freedom’ who advocates that development is about giving people choice. She said that IT and women’s wellbeing is about access, choice, and advocacy; saying that more advocacy sites were needed, through which we could for example determine where there were abuses of women’s rights, track them and see where more effort was required.

Mrs. Gordon mentioned the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Open University website; the Khan Academy website as being ready sources of information and learning. She commended FIDA-Ghana online for its videos teaching people what they can do to change their lives. She spoke on the necessity to track our leaders to see what they are doing for us as citizens. She wondered how much use FIDA-Ghana was making of SMS messaging to help people, to contact donors and so forth. She said that FIDA-Ghana’s challenge was to use IT effectively in its work.

Mrs. Gordon mentioned Geographical Information System (GIS) which maps what is happening to children; Survey Monkey, a free online tool for conducting a survey; Webcasts, special videos which could be watched online as a means of propagating ideas; Global Positioning System (GPS), allows people to be tracked through their mobile phone. She spoke of the ‘Talking book,’ an audio recording device which is robust and immune to dirt, water or breakage, designed for the needs of the rural dweller. She stressed that there was a need for Africa to create technological devices that are suitable for Africa and its people.

Mrs. Gordon said that Africa presented huge opportunities for business and advocacy; saying that there was potential for FIDA’s advocacy to have continental impact. That as women we needed to be informed in order to negotiate better deals for ourselves. That on the internet, we must create information not just consume that of others. Speaking of the video on the FIDA-Ghana website, which teaches women about their rights, she asked that it be rendered in local languages as well, to help those who may not be so conversant in English. In conclusion, she said that ICT “is a tool” which we as women “should shape and use, to eradicate the oppression in our society, and that preserving our freedoms and burgeoning human rights demands even more effort on our part.”

THIRD PRESENTATION
Mrs. Comfort Ocran, Legacy and Legacy gave the third presentation entitled ‘Workspace to Worldspace- increasing access to Business, Education and Politics’ She noted that the scale of unemployment in Ghana could be predicated in that 350,000 people graduated yearly from our universities; That the job market was so competitive because people worldwide had equal access to the same information on jobs. Mrs. Ocran defined ‘workspace’ as our little corner of the world, and ‘worldspace’ as the place where the decisions are made, in that light she said there was the need for us to be more cosmopolitan in our outlook. That by having a parochial vision we were boxing ourselves in, cutting ourselves off from the world.

Mrs. Ocran asked why we needed to move from our space to the world space. She said that what we did affected so many others; it either helped others or made them languish. She asked how many people could say they had come to the point of self actualization, that others were depending on us to move into the world space to give them the opportunity to actualise themselves. She asked how we could impact society positively, and how we could ensure that our gains were made fundamentally part of society. How we could utilise our resources effectively, and if we had enough? In relation to schools she said that we did not need to build more just to utilise what we had better, by for example using school buildings during the vacation period to assist adult learners.

Mrs. Ocran asked how we could ensure gender parity in funding, in remuneration and the like. (At this point a participant informed the gathering that Mr. Kofi Amoah, a Patron had donated $100,000USD to the Musicians Association of Ghana, whilst giving FIDA-Ghana only $10,000.00USD. It was decided that the gathering’s objection would be brought to his attention, and an appeal made for more money.) She stressed the need for increased access to higher paid work, training and development, opportunities in technology, education, politics and other pivotal areas. She underscored the need to train our girls in IT, saying that the best place for upward mobility was in the technology field. Mrs. Ocran said that training, mentoring, continuous education, self-employment, gave a person charge of what he or she was going to do, and it empowered them.

Mrs. Ocran said that a world worker had intellectual processing capacity, communication skills, and information application skills, was self-motivated, and visionary. She said that we had the opportunity, but we had to be motivated to move to the place to make a difference in our society. She advised that we must dream our new world, feel it, build it, and live it.

FOURTH PRESENTATION
Mrs. Grace Amey-Obeng, FC Beauty Clinic, treated participants to a presentation on ‘Healthy Looks’ – The presentation stressed the importance of looking good healthily, saying that looking good was important because we were women. She said that we all had the potential to look good, to have good skin, good hair, hands and feet.

Mrs. Amey-Obeng said that basic to skin care, was knowledge of one’s skin type, and stressed the need to cleanse, and tone to take away excess oil and dirt. She said that moisturising was essential to healthy skin, and that even dark skinned people needed to use sun block to protect the skin from harsh sun rays. That the right make-up makes us look good without looking made-up. She recommended the FC range as being made specifically for women of colour.

Mrs. Amey-Obeng said that good hair needed shampooing at least once every week, what shampooing did was that it moisturised and replenished the hair follicles and scalp, keeping the hair neat and looking good, because our hair speaks volumes about us. About dressing, she advised dressing elegantly for the occasion, saying that the gathering was already well turned out so a lot of talk on appropriate dressing was not necessary. For healthy feet, she advised monthly pedicures, saying that a dry pedicure was best if one could not guarantee that the foot spa had been freshly washed, since a lot of infections could be contracted from foot spas.

Questions & Contributions

Mrs. Agyemang Bempah, a participant – wondered why nothing much had been said about the abuses of the internet or computer; she lamented that e-mails had virtually done away with the art of letter writing. In response Mrs. Gordon said that one of the wonderful things about IT was that it allows one to avoid isolation. That IT was not age discriminatory at all; that it is just an additional tool, yes it is dangerous, yet like everything it can be used for good or bad. Need for women to understand the technology in order to protect their children and themselves.

Rosemary Afia Asante, a participant made the contribution that newly en-rolled lawyers should embrace the challenge of hard cases instead of divorce cases and the like and be aggressive. In response Mrs. Aboagye said, it was not a question of soft or hard, rather a person had to fight for space to do what he or she wanted to do. She advised participants to create their own space and do their thing.

Sophia Amissah Laryea, a participant said she had come to realise that women after divorce tend to be the losers that divorce cases were not easy at all; she expressed happiness at being part of a historic event; and attested to fact that only women can solve the problems of women, because they understood their problems best. She also expressed satisfaction about the endowment fund to empower women. On the subject of ICT, Mrs. Amissah-Laryea spoke on need to demystify perception of IT tools as being status symbols, saying that they are working tools; In response Mrs. Gordon said that it was simply human behaviour.

Nellie Wallace, a participant asked whether lime and warm water arrested the aging process. In response Mrs. Amey-Obeng said that lime water was acidic on an empty stomach, that acid could destroy some stomach lining. She said that the acidity of lime or its PH value could not be determined, so skin would be exposed to harm if it was applied to skin.

Daphne Boateng, a participant suggested mentoring for those in the tertiary institutions and on-line mentoring for women using ICT.

Ursula Owusu, past President of FIDA-Ghana, commended Mrs. Jane Quaye for her impassioned plea for support, saying that she understood why Mrs. Quaye had spoken with such passion, because she saw desperate women every day and advised that pooling our resources would lead to more timely assistance to those women needing our assistance. That those who work on behalf of the less privileged do so for the satisfaction of making someone else’s life a little better and therefore she urged all to contribute in every way especially with money to sustain the work of people in the field of women and children’s rights.

Mercy Konadu, a participant from UNFPA, said that ‘economic empowerment, human and reproductive rights for women are critical linkages for girls and women throughout their lifecycles. ‘We should therefore focus on girls both in and out of school before they become the vulnerable women, we must support, educate and empower them. Let us strategise around girls both in and out of schools and also build the skills and economic empowerment of women. These could be the bedrock for women claiming their rights in an empowered mode.’
A participant wanted to know how the Bio-metric register could be made relevant to the life of the woman fish monger in Chorkor. Mrs. Gordon in response said that Bio-metric simply meant the use of some of our bodily data, finger-print, iris, or photo recognition to avoid fraud in the elections and elsewhere. She said that to make it relevant women had to take part in the registration process to ensure that their voices are heard in determining the leadership of the country.

Mrs. Oteng-Gyasi read draft communiqué on the outcome of the First National Conference for female lawyers and female executives. She expressed happiness at the success of the conference and said that next year it would be even better.

Mrs. Eleanor Barnes-Botchway gave the vote of thanks on behalf of FIDA-Ghana.

She said in many cases the Department of Social Welfare had to foot the bills of the girls who are rushed to the health facilities and “this situation has overburdened the department”.

Ms Seshie who did not provide data, was addressing a workshop on Gender, Reproductive Health and the Domestic Violence (DV) Act, for a cross section of people including chiefs, opinion leaders, teachers and social workers at Sogakope in the Volta Region.

The workshop organised by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana) with support from UNFPA was replicated at Akatsi in the Akatsi District.

Ms Seshie noted that efforts to ensure gender parity, by raising the standards of women through education, was being threatened by teenage pregnancies which forced the victims out of school.

She said national goals for quality reproductive and maternal health delivery were also being thwarted by poor roads, which made accessibility to medical care difficult.

The workshops forms part of the FIDA-Ghana Project dubbed: “Community Legal Literacy and Human Rights Awareness Programme In Support of indigenes and Children.”

The project is going in the Central, Volta and Northern regions.

The project which would bring to the fore socio-cultural practices undermining the rights of women and children, aims at improving the skills and willingness of community leadership at promoting gender relations, reproductive health rights and the DV Act and also empower and make women aware of their rights.

Mr Bawa Faisal, FIDA-Ghana Project Co-ordinator said despite the significant socio-economic roles of women they are negated to the background, while cultural perception and practices continue to inhibit the implementation of all legislative reforms on women’s rights including their right to own property.

He said the FIDA Project would train community leadership as paralegals to help promote the enforcement of existing laws on women and children’s rights, carry out advocacy roles, focusing on the protection of women against harmful local norms.

Mr Moses Kakaw, South-Tongu District Director of the Department of Social Welfare said the stepping up of economic empowerment of women as an angle of the DV Act would greatly enhance the implementation of the law.

Issues handled at the workshops were sex and gender, rights of women and younger children, adolescence reproduction, maternal and child health and the DV Act.

Source: GNA

Mrs Susan Aryeetey, Resource Mobilization Officer, says “We recognize that women live with men” therefore, the Federation has diversified its approaches and now meets with males including chiefs, opinion leaders, assemblymen, artisans, etc. and discusses the various laws with them.

The rationale is “Just to demystify the fact that FIDA is just here to pitch the women against the men. That’s not true. The whole idea is to work together with both the men and the women. If we work together with the men we will be able to achieve women’s rights. So that’s the new approach,” Mrs. Aryeetey explains.

What FIDA-Ghana is

FIDA-Ghana is the local chapter of the Federacion Internacionale de Abogadas, (FIDA) Spanish for International Federation of Women Lawyers, which was founded in Mexico in 1944 by a group of women lawyers from five (5) American countries. It was introduced to Ghana in 1968 by a group of Ghanaian women lawyers who were individual members of the international body.

FIDA-Ghana was formally launched in 1974. Currently, the Resource Mobilization Officer puts the number of members at 40 from across Ghana and it is represented in eight regions of the country. It is a non-profit, non-partisan and non-governmental membership organization, committed to the enhancement of the status of Ghanaian women and children through legal aid, research and publications.

Activities

According to Mrs Aryeetey, FIDA-Ghana essentially provides legal support in the form of mediation and arbitration and sometimes court representation to clients. Specific activities include holding legal seminars twice a week, organizing mobile legal outreaches in communities, providing legal literacy education, and training paralegals.

The Federation also undertakes research studies, findings of which inform its advocacy work. Another thing it does is to simplify the laws, especially those that affect women and children.. “Basically we just want to try and make the law accessible to people. Because law is seen as an expert area…but everybody in the society must be able to know the laws that protect them.”

Collaborations/ Funding

The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE) are some of FIDA-Ghana’s major collaborators. The Federation also collaborates with other women’s rights organisations locally and internationally, as well as, with state institutions like the judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Office, etc.

Since 2006, it has enjoyed funding from the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme (G-RAP). The latest support is a core support amounting to 140,000 dollars secured 18 months from July 2008 to December 2009. Through the support FIDA-Ghana hopes to add to its vital intellectual resources that can be used to provide advocacy in promoting the rights of women. Also, that same resource will be available for policy makers to input into their programmes.

The Federation has been able to review and reduce a rather ambiguous ten-year development plan into a simple five-year plan with the help of funding from G-RAP.

It has also been able to extend its coverage, attracted more funds and employed more staff including an additional programme officer.

Achievements

Mrs. Aryeetey says “A landmark achievement is that FIDA has been recognized as an organisation speaking for women. At least …we have been able to establish ourselves as a credible organisation …we speak on behalf of women whose rights have been abused.”

The success story is incomplete except we are able to tell how the constituents had benefited. Women whom FIDA-Ghana has dealt with are better empowered. The empowered woman “is the one who knows and uses the law to achieve what she wants.”

Towards the 2000 and 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana, the Federation undertook a series of advocacy, gender sensitization and awareness creation activities to educate women on the electoral process. Consequently, the various political parties were encouraged to nominate more women parliamentarians.

Similarly, FIDA-Ghana’s advocacy resulted in an increased participation of women in the 2002 District Level Elections. According to FIDA-Ghana, the Electoral Commission’s statistics indicate that 983 women contested in 2002 as compared to 547 women who contested in 1998. Besides, 362 women won seats to the District Assemblies as compared to 157 in 1998. Another area of success is that Government also responded to calls by FIDA and other NGOs to appoint more women in assemblies through its affirmative policy action of appointing a third of government appointees as women.

Future outlook

The Attorney-General’s Department is reviewing PNDC Law 111. FIDA-Ghana is waiting on the lines to forward its findings in a research conducted on the law. Mrs. Aryeetey said the findings gave an idea of the gaps in the law.

Also ahead is the dissemination of findings of a study the FIDA-Ghana conducted to investigate the problems of women living with HIV/AIDS. It will organise policy dialogues and awareness creation programmes as part of the dissemination of the results.

Source: Public Agenda

Source: The Ghanaian Times
From Samuel Amoako, Sunyani