Mrs Hilary Gbedemah, a legal practitioner, at the
weekend urged women in the formal sector to see pregnancy as their social duty to society and must never be remorseful about it.
"Pregnancies are social functions which you have to be proud of," she said.
Mrs Gbedemah said this at a day's sensitization seminar organized by Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) for women in the Volta Region in Ho.
The seminar which was on the theme, "Women's Rights Promotion in Ghana: Issues, Challenges and Options" was also used to inaugurate NETRIGHT in the Region.
Mrs Gbedemah, a member of NETRIGHT, said rather than feel limited by pregnancy; women in the formal sector should be assertive and claim their rights under such circumstances.
She said it was discriminatory and wrong for employers to deny employment to women because they would have to go on maternity leave when
pregnant.
Mrs Gbedemah said many employers in the formal sector do not pay maternity benefits to their workers and grant 12 weeks instead of 14 weeks as demanded by the law.
She said many such acts of discriminations were limiting the extent to which women in the formal sector could pursue professional development and be better equipped for national development.
She exhorted women to take advantage of the provisions in the labour Act to undertake further professional training no matter the challenges
involved.
Mrs Gbedemah said women in the informal sector were worse off than their formal sector counterparts in matters of their rights in the
workplace.
She said women like men were expected to work in decent conditions and environment, but that could not be said of places such as markets where basic facilities like toilets were lacking.
Mrs Gbedemah advised women in the private sector to acquire basic skills such as record keeping and the habit of saving for the future.
Mr David Torkornu, Volta Regional Manager of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), advised women to encourage their husbands
to regularly update their records with SSNIT as protection against any future eventualities.
He said though there were laws to protect women and children, regular updates facilitated prompt payment of pension benefits.