Miss Sena Akua Dansua, Minister for Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) has stated that the right of women to participate fully and equally in the development of the nation is not an act of benevolence on the part of those in government.
She said it was rather a requirement for the progress of all societies, and as such had been enshrined in the global and national statutes from the universal declaration of human rights and other human rights declarations.
Miss Dansua was speaking at a four-day workshop on gender audit organized by the Gender Development Institute (GDI)-Ghana in Tamale on Tuesday. The theme for the workshop was "Gender Audit: An organizational self assessment tool for gender equality".
She said gender mainstreaming had been reinforced by President Mills' administration as the backbone of ensuring the advancement of women in Ghana by giving about 40 per cent of appointments in the public service to women.
She said that in terms of policy direction and orientation, Ghana was a gender-friendly country but noted that what remained as a challenge was strategic planning to enable individuals and families to translate the information they receive on gender development into positive behavioural change in practical terms.
Miss Dansua said the MOWAC had designed programmes based on national gender policy guidelines to help improve the performance of gender activists, institutions and organizations.
She noted that Gender Auditing was a critical and important gender mainstreaming tool for facilitating and assessing the gender-sensitiveness of organizations and institutions to ensure their commitment to gender issues and provision of resources for their work.
She said this would also promote women's empowerment and create avenues for the improvement of their living conditions.
Mr. Wilbert Tengey, Chief Executive Officer of GDI said the institute sought to train officers on how best to integrate gender issues into their development projects and programmes.
He said the purpose of the course was to make sure that organizations and institutions gave adequate commitment and resources to gender equity perspectives in their work.