She lamented that the situation has increased the precarious conditions under which women work in the country.

Professor Akua Britwum made the observation on Tuesday in an interview with Citi News at the launch of the book, ‘Crossing the Divide – Precarious Work and the Future of Labour’, at the University of Cape Coast.

As one of the international editors of the book, which focuses on work-related insecurities and work vulnerability, the professor revealed, that in “the areas where women are engaged, the levels of precarity are higher than areas where men are engaged.”

Referring to an observation they made during research for the book, Prof. Britwum recounted that in Ghana, “when we did our research with waste pickers, for example, we found out that the male waste pickers were more likely to own the tricycles (and other items) whereas the women waste pickers were the ones using the baskets and caring the waste on their heads.”

In her view, Prof Akua Britwum suggested that the labour fronts in both the formal and informal sectors could be better sustained if balanced opportunities and conditions are created for both sexes.

‘Crossing the Divide’ looks at how innovative organizational strategies are emerging in the Global South to bridge the widening gap between the formal and informal economy, focusing on Ghana, South Africa and India.

The publication further hails attempts by vulnerable workers to engage in diverse creative strategies to fight for decent work and living conditions, as well as their efforts to present a collective front in promoting their rights and interests.

The book is a collaboration among three labour researchers from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India.

The of the launch of the publication in Ghana follows similar events in South Africa and India, and was sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the University of Cape Coast and the International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD).

–

By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Lecturer urges crackdown on gender stereotyping at workplaces appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said women were central actors in national growth, thus meeting the challenges of empowering them and ensuring gender equality was “one of the best ways of mitigating poverty and guaranteeing the progress and prosperity of our country and continent.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”pNF8WJUT80cS3sZ61metNdjNyTJUyQMM”]President Akufo-Addo made this known at the first Gender and Development Initiative for Africa (GADIA) Advocates Charge Awards held at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

The GADIA Advocates Charge (GACH) Awards is a flagship initiative established by the President who is an African Union Gender Champion to support sustainable gender equality and increase the participation and progress of women within the private sector.

The awards will be conferred on a specific number of prominent businessmen across the Continent who would be charged by the President to take concrete and measurable steps within their respective companies to enhance gender equality over a particular period of time.

Noting that women were mainstreamed in every economic sector of the country, President Akufo-Addo said the promotion of gender equality at the workplace, particularly in the private sector, was a prerequisite for socio-economic development.

He said Ghana, and for that matter, Africa, could not eradicate poverty without paying attention to and addressing the needs of women, who statistics indicated overwhelmed the population.

That was why, the President said, his administration had instituted policies aimed at rapidly increasing Ghana’s future prosperity and creating a valued-added economy expected to create the necessary number of high-paying jobs that would improve the living standards of the people, especially women.

Government, he said, would ensure that it stimulated Ghana’s private sector growth and made gender equality part and parcel of business, as women were a central part in every rapid development narrative.

The President charged the awardees to ensure that they promote gender equality in their respective corporate environments as the country and the Continent worked towards inclusive growth to unleash the potential of its peoples.

He further urged the top echelon of corporate entities to increase their support for greater freedoms for women and their participation in decision-making as they (women) could significantly lower Africa’s myriad of growth challenges.

–

Source: GNA

The post Gender equality key to sustainable development – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This she said would afford queen-mothers the respect that traditional Ghanaian culture gave women before colonial rule.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ZmqeDhcrSq2rcJcu34Bja9Zt2mZ6EKeh”]”Culturally, we refer to nature as ‘asase yaa’ and women are held in reverence spiritually and culturally, so why the disconnect in our contemporary society where women are treated like second-class citizens,” she questioned.

Nana Konadu was giving an address at a symposium at the University of Ghana on the theme: “Women Empowerment: How Critical Is It To National Development?”

Her address narrowed into the makeup of the House of Chief, which is a constitutionally mandated traditional body, and has always been constituted by men.

“Can someone here give me reasons why our queen mothers are not permitted into the House of Chiefs? There really is no reason besides the fundamental fact that they are women and that is it,” she stated.

Queen mothers are noted as advisers to chiefs and kingmakers in some cases, so Nana Konadu questioned further why “they [the Queen-mothers] are not in the halls of real power?”

On this premise, she said the House of Chiefs should be named the “House of Chiefs and Queen-mothers” because there was a clear gender imbalance “that did not originate from our culture at all.”

What the constitution says

Despite the former First Lady’s concerns, Chapter 22 of the constitution, which deals with chieftaincy and the House of Chiefs, does not strictly exclude women from serving on the House of Chiefs.

The relevant section says “…unless the context otherwise requires, ‘chief’ means a person, who, hailing from the appropriate family and lineage, has been validly nominated, elected or selected and enstooled, enskinned or installed as a chief or queen-mother in accordance with the relevant customary law and usage.”

Nana Konadu’s advocacy

Nana Konadu has been championing women’s issues and gender equality in the public eye for over 30 years.

She notably founded the 31st December Women’s Movement in 1982 after her husband, Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings seized power in a coup on December 31, 1981.

Nana Konadu also played a crucial role in the adoption of the Intestate Succession Law allowing women to inherit from the husband despite the absence of a will.

Traditionally, women had little or no rights of inheritance upon the death of their husbands.

–

By: Marie Franz Fordjoe & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Open House of Chiefs to Queen-mothers – Nana Konadu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It is the first time that data from the World Economic Forum (WEF) has shown a year-on-year worsening of the gender gap since it began charting it in 2006.

The report ranks 144 countries to compare women’s economic opportunities, education, political participation and health with men.

Women are measured as having 68% of the chances and outcomes that men have.

This is slightly down from the 68.3% measured last year.

But the group says the overall gender gap in all of the areas of equality it monitors would take 100 years to close at the current rate.

That is well up from the 83 years predicted in 2016.

Gender parity is closest in areas of health and education, it says, but significant gaps in economic participation and political empowerment continue to endure across the world.

Women will have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and are equally represented in the workplace, the figures suggest.

Nordic countries remain among some of the world’s best for overall equality. Iceland tops the list with a 12% gender gap across all the WEF’s measures. Norway, Finland ands Sweden are all in the top five.

Rwanda came fourth in the list for overall gender equality with a gap of 18%. The country has the highest share of women in parliament in the world – they occupy three in every five seats.

Nicaragua, Slovenia, Ireland, New Zealand and the Philippines also made the top 10 on the Global Gender Gap rankings.

Women in the Middle East and North Africa fared the worst, with war-torn Yemen coming last on the list with a gender equality score of just 52%.

The report shows women in the world earn less not just because of gendered salary differences, but because women are more likely to do unpaid or part-time work than men.

Women also generally tend to work in lower-paid professions and are less likely to be in highly-paid senior roles in companies.

Slovenia has the smallest gap in gender earnings – with women there on average earning 80.5% of the male national average.

The report says that if the economic gender gap was totally closed:

• China could add $2.5tn to its GDP
• The United States could add $1.75bn
• France and Germany could add more than $300bn each
• The UK could add $250bn

New world leaders’ impact

Both Canada and France saw improvements to their political empowerment measures after Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron added more women in ministerial positions within their governments.

The US saw a marked drop in this area, with female political empowerment at its lowest rate in 10 years. It came 96th in this area.

The report blames a significant decrease in female ministerial positions for the fall – a Freedom of Information request in March revealed that only 27% of all jobs within the Trump administration were taken by women.

• Meet Trump’s cabinet: The people around the president
• All-male White House picture sparks anger

Overall the US fell four places to take 49th position.

The UK climbed five places, taking 15th spot this year. Its rank is largely due to high levels of female education, and Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has helped the UK to improve its political score. A record number of female MPs were elected to the country’s parliament in June.

But it continues to lag behind in economic participation and opportunities for women in particular. The UK ranks 95th in the world for income equality, with women in the UK earning on average 45% less per year than men.

Other countries that improved overall included Bangladesh, which now ranks 47th in the world and the highest in South Asia after increasing female employment in professions.

Sub-Saharan African countries made marked improvements in women’s health. Nine countries from the region are in the world’s top 20 for high female labour force participation.

–

Source: BBC

The post Gender equality gap worsens for women – World Economic Forum appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to television station TV2, around 75 students have signed up.

There’s reportedly so much interest in the University of Copenhagen course – called Beyonce, Gender and Race – that it’s had to move to a bigger lecture theatre.

Professor Erik Steinskog told the Danish broadcaster that he’d be presenting the singer’s lyrics, videos and performances to students.

He says it’s designed to be an academic course where arts and cultural studies undergraduates can pick up credits towards their degree.

“We will analyse her songs and music videos,” he says. “There will be a focus on gender, sexuality and race.

“One of the goals is to introduce black feminist thought, which is not very well known in Scandinavia.

“Beyonce is important in understanding the world we live in. [She] is one of the biggest pop artists today, which makes her important in an analysis of contemporary times.”

The University of Copenhagen’s magazine, Uniavisen, says the Beyonce class is now full.

Prof Steinskog admits he’s a big fan of the singer and says she’s a good indicator of where pop music is heading.

“She’s a controversial feminist, which is crucial. She makes us consider what it means to be a feminist – or what it can mean, but her feminism is addressed to a non-academic audience.

“It is hard not to be impressed. She is extremely good at what she does. Life is too short to work with music I don’t like.”

It’s not the first Beyonce university course.

Rutgers University in the US state of New Jersey launched a class called Politicising Beyonce through its Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in 2014.

Rutgers also had a class about the theology of Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics.

Georgetown University also had a class called The Sociology of Hip-Hop: The Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z, focusing on Beyonce’s rapper husband.

In the UK, a module in Harry Potter and the age of illusion was offered by Durham University.

Prof Steinskog told the BBC that he’s surprised by all the attention the course has got.

“I am taking the discussion from the US to Europe. It makes it possible to discuss theoretical issues and say, ‘Do they look different from a European perspective? What do you think about when you think about race?’

“In the 80s, especially in the late 80s, probably more in the US, there were classes about Madonna – so why is this surprising to the media when we do it now?”

–

Source: BBC Newsbeat

The post Danish university offers course on Beyonce, Gender and Race appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

If you wear a short dress, it’s fashionable, but know that it can attract somebody who would want to rape or defile you. You must be responsible for the choices you make.” I cannot believe that Ghana’s Gender, Children and Social Protection would say something so ignorant, something so sexist and abominable.

To begin, Madam, really? Your best advice to a bunch of growing girls already under pressure to minimize themselves was to suggest to them that clothes attract rape? You couldn’t just tell them to study hard and remain “confident, bold and respectful.” You couldn’t tell them to report lecherous teachers, relatives and random men to school authorities.

You had to go and give that faux sex education advice. Who was it that told you at the Ministry that this was good counsel to give girls growing up in an environment where men feel entitled to their bodies? How can you so shamelessly resort to victim-blaming when Ghanaian newspapers and websites constantly report the rape of women as old as 70 and children as young as two by vile men?

Minister, I want to assume, that was your special uninformed way of telling women and girls to be safe because it is odd for Ghana’s Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection to be on the same side as rapists and other bad men who hide behind that tired excuse to violate women. Rape according to the dictionary and the laws of the land is any form of sexual penetration that occurs without the consent of one party.

It is the violation of women and girls always borne out of entitlement to our bodies. Certainly you can see that no correlation exists between the victim’s clothes and the actions of the rapist. Therefore, they lie, when they insist that women’s clothes move them to rape. Men are not goats incapable of self-control and respect for others that the mere sight of a woman’s skin renders them insane and rapey.

Madam, studies indicate that Ghanaian women between the ages of 10-18 years (the age group of the girls you spoke to) are most at risk of all forms sexual violence. Data from the Gender Centre also indicates that 27 percent of Ghanaian women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. 1 in 3 women had been fondled or touched against their will, and 2 in 10 women their first experience of sex was against their will. And many do not report these violations that leave them with lifelong trauma because of comments like yours.

Often victims are subjected to awful queries like “what were you doing in his room” and “what were you wearing,” suggesting that they’re somehow to blame for the actions of the rapist. Minister, your comment did exactly what rapists want, ignore their actions and place the burden of preventing rape on women. It serves no one than just perpetuates the rape culture, allowing rapists to get away with their crimes.

It is obvious from your response to Kennedy Agyapong’s sex for jobs attack on the Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei and other comments that you’re completely out of step with evolving gender dynamics. Because the notion that women somehow contributes to rape no longer applies in polite society. Only the rapist is responsible for his actions. A Gender Minister who cares would know this. It’s not your fault, you didn’t appoint yourself. They were looking for a woman for the role and I’m sure they thought their National Women’s Organiser would be fitting.

As things stand right now, you’re imperfect for the role. You have no technical knowledge of the area and you have never been an advocate of gender rights. Consider your delayed response to the woman who was beaten, stripped naked and violated in Kumasi. I suspect you were working with the ‘what if she stole’ theory. We don’t live in a jungle, even if she stole, they built the courts and the prisons for crimes like. Consider again, your reckless comments about your colleagues’ supposed disability. Albinism isn’t a disability and that was an appalling way to speak about disabilities in our society.

Madam, I had been praying you succeed given the drama that came with your appointment.

Nothing would please the Minority Members of the Appointments Committee more than seeing you fail. And you will fail if you do not seek help with the sector. Like many of your colleagues, you would have to educate yourself because having “power doesn’t automatically mean that you have knowledge.”

Find people who have specialized in gender and children’s rights to educate you in the area. Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you know what is required to transform the lives of Ghanaian women. You need to unlearn your internalized sexism and misogyny, study the changing ways the world seeks to treat women and get with the plan.

I’m serious about this. Sit down, stop talking, and study. The University of Ghana has a fabulous place where you can go for help, the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy. Go learn how you can help reduce rape using policy, enforcement of laws and other tools.

If you do nothing at all, find someone who is aware of the times to guide you in writing those speeches. And stop offending us, Ghanaian women each time you speak.

Sincerely,
The woman with an agenda

–

By: nnyamewaa.com/Ghana

The post Otiko; educate yourself; unlearn your misogynistic ways appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

She believes the effective sensitization of the youth will help “grow up the society to appreciate the capabilities of women in the society.”

Speaking at the International Women’s day celebration under the theme “Be bold for change” in Accra, she said : “it is important that as individuals who believe in the empowerment of women and making the sexes equal, to see how we can get the young people to appreciate who women are. All these are part of growing up the society so that they can appreciate what a woman is made up of and how capable they are.”

She stated that, for Ghana to get to the point where the rights of women are equally recognized and enforced, “we need to look at things differently.”

“A change of mentality, it is not one day, it is not twenty years, it may even be a 100 years, we don’t know because we may even have a leader who will come into a country and will help to propagate the Gender issue, women’s issues and so women’s issues start moving forward, then you will have another one who doesn’t really care, thinks a few people dotted around as Ministers is enough, and you will have some who will live by example and some who don’t really mind and so you can move forward and backward in a number of ways that can create its own problems,”she added.

She believes the men must also rally behind the women to ensure women across the country are empowered.

“For a long time, we started talking about affirmative action. Affirmative action is important because it corrects the imbalances of a society or a group, so to be able to do that, we must accept that there are some discrepancies and injustices going on. We are 52.8 percent of the population. The loudest group are the 48 percent. They should be brought along with us. We cannot deal with empowerment of women alone, we must let the men talk about empowerment of women.”

“We must let them understand that when your daughter becomes empowered, it’s a plus for you the father, it’s a plus for you the husband as well. It is a mythical fear that needs to be dealt with. Nobody should fear women. Encourage us to be what we can be because if women being 52 percent of the population, rise up to the level where men are, we will see the changes that will happen in this country.”

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Educate youth on gender equality – Konadu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

They are the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West Constituency, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, and the National Women’s Organizer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Otiko Afisa Djaba.

Ursula Owusu was nominated as a nominee for the Communications Minister position,  whereas Otiko Afisa Djaba has been earmarked for the Gender and Social Protection Ministry.

Their nomination follows the announcement of the first batch of 13 people constituting three females; Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Hajia Alima Mahama and Gloria Akuffo, and ten other males to fill various ministerial positions pending parliamentary approval.

Profiles of Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Otiko Afisa Djaba

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful is a lawyer, women’s right activist, and a parliamentarian representing Ablekuma West constituency. Ursula was born on 20 October 1964. She hails from Akim Oda in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful attended Labone Senior High School and proceeded to Mfantisman Girls Secondary School to have her sixth form education. She furthered her education in University of Ghana where she obtained an LLB.

Otiko Afisa Djaba was born on January 21 , 1962. She is a Ghanaian politician who is the National Women’s Organizer for the New Patriotic Party.

Otiko was born to Henry Kojo Djaba and Rosalind Sheita Bawa at Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She is the second of twenty-one siblings.

She attended Tamale Secondary School, now Tamale Senior High School. She holds a diploma in Communications and marketing from an institution in the United Kingdom.

She has also had training as a Computer Systems Analyst from a college in the United Kingdom.

Other personalities who were named in the second batch of nominees were Samuel Atta Kyea, Minister nominee for Works and Housing.

Below is the list

1.Dr Akoto Osei- Monitoring and Evaluation
2.Dan Botwe – Regional Reorganisation and Special Projects
3.John Peter Amewu – Lands and Forestry
4.Otiko Afisa Djaba- Gender and Social Protection
5.Ignatius Baffour Awuah – Employment and Labour Relations
6.Kwaku Ofori Asiamah -Transport
7.Joe Ghartey-Railways Development
8.Kwesi Amoako Atta – Roads and Highways
9.Ursula Owusu – Communications
10. Kofi Adda – Water Resources and Sanitation
11. Samuel Atta Akyea-Works and Housing
12. Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng – Environment, Science and Technology

–

By: Marian Ansah with files from wikipedia/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Ursula for Communications, Otiko for Gender, Social Protection appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Brown’s body lay in a black and gold casket at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, topped with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap he was wearing when he was shot dead on Aug. 9.

People jammed inside the modern red-brick church and gathered outside on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis for the celebration, a markedly different scene from the violent protests that rocked the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson after the shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old Brown.

Brown’s death has focused global attention on the state of race relations in the United States. Police and demonstrators in Ferguson clashed nightly for more than a week, with authorities coming under fire for mass arrests and the use of heavy-handed tactics and military gear.

The teenager’s coffin was surrounded by photos of him as a child, graduating from school and smiling in his baseball cap.

Spirited gospel music by a choir and horn players filled the sanctuary, and mourners clapped their hands and danced in the aisles. Readings from the Bible were met with whoops and cheers.

“It was real spiritual,” said Mike Montgomery, a black city employee who said he took the day off from work to attend.

“I usually hear more mourning at a funeral,” said Montgomery, 38. “I think the family wanted a celebration. That’s why they had the upbeat music.”

Printed in a program for the service were letters from his parents to their late son.

A letter by Michael Brown Sr. read: “I always told you I would never let nothing happen to you and that’s what hurts so much, that I couldn’t protect you.”

Afterwards, the funeral procession carried Brown’s casket to St. Peter’s Cemetery, a few miles from Brown’s home, where it was loaded onto a horse-drawn carriage.

Michael Brown Sr. cried at his son’s grave site and let out a scream before leaving. His mother arrived with a separate group. She laid her body across his coffin as she wept.

Call For Justice

A grand jury has begun hearing evidence in the shooting and the U.S. Justice Department has opened its own investigation.

In a eulogy for Brown, civil rights activist Al Sharpton demanded a fair and impartial investigation into the shooting and an end to police brutality.

“Michael Brown does not want to be remembered for riots,” Sharpton said. “He wants to be remembered as the one that made America deal with how we’re going to police in the United States.”

He also called on the black community to end the kind of street violence and looting that cast Ferguson in a negative light.

“We have to be outraged for our disrespect for each other,” he said. “Some of us act like the definition of blackness is how low you can go.

“Blackness has never been about being a gangster or a thug. Blackness was no matter how low we was pushed down, we rose up anyhow,” he said.

Family and friends rose to speak as well, recalling Brown’s nicknames of “Gentle Giant,” and “Big Mike.”

Pastor Charles Ewing, Brown’s uncle, recalled Brown once telling him: “One day the whole world will know my name.”

“Michael Brown’s blood is crying from the ground, crying for vengeance, crying for justice,” Ewing said.

Outside, under the hot midday sun, the police presence was heavy but relaxed. Authorities had braced for a possible flare-up, although clashes between protesters and police have waned significantly in recent days.

The crowd repeated the now-familiar “Hands up, don’t shoot,” which protesters have chanted in the streets of Ferguson.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson told a news conference late on Monday that the evening had passed peacefully.

In differing accounts of Brown’s shooting, police have said he struggled with Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed him. But some witnesses say Brown held up his hands and was surrendering when he was shot multiple times in the head and chest.

After the funeral, people came in small groups to the impromptu memorial at the site of his death, among them Tameka Bryant, 28, a marketing executive at a radio station.

“I just hope we will see justice served,” said Bryant, who said she attended Brown’s funeral. “The family needs some comfort and peace. I hate to think what would happen if they don’t get it. We would have chaos.”

–

Source: Reuters

The post Teenager Michael Brown remembered in Missouri after shooting appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Governor Jay Nixon signed an order to “help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson”.

The decision was made as police clashed with angry crowds shortly before a second night under curfew began.

Police in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, said they came under attack and had “no alternative” but to respond.

In a news briefing, Police Captain Ron Johnson said protesters had thrown Molotov cocktails and bottles at security forces, and set up barricades.

“For those who would claim that the curfew was what led to [the] violence, I will remind you this incident began three and a half hours before the curfew was to have started,” he told journalists in Ferguson on Monday.

The killing of Michael Brown by a white policeman in a street on 9 August has inflamed racial tensions in the largely black suburb.

A preliminary private autopsy report found that Mr Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, the New York Times reports.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a federal post-mortem on the body of the 18-year-old, to take place “as soon as possible.”

–

Source: BBC

The post US National Guard called to quell unrest in Ferguson appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.