By Christabel DANSO ABEAM
The Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), partnering with OXFAM Ghana, has held a roundtable meeting under the Power of voices for Partnership (PvP) Fair4All project to review gender responsive policies, legal and institutional frameworks in the mining, petroleum and cocoa sectors.
The PvP Fair4all project aims to contribute in addressing global value chain inequalities, accountability of industries and regulatory issues – focusing on the mining, petroleum and cocoa sectors.
The event highlighted an extensive evaluation of Ghana’s gender-responsive laws, policies and regulations designed to close gender gaps in the mentioned sectors.
Melody Darkey, National Programmes Coordinator -WiLDAF, underscored that the aim is not just to review these policies but also ascertain if they are being fully implemented.
“The major key step is to know what exists currently as far as policies, laws and institutional arrangements are concerned in these sectors – and make sure that these policies are not only meant for the books but are truly practiced in these organisations,” she said.
Ms. Darkey attributed the focus on these three sectors to their significant employment, entrepreneurship opportunities, longevity and overall contribution to Ghana’s economy.
According to her, findings by WiLDAF indicate that there has been notable improvement in addressing gender-related issues for the petroleum, cocoa and mining industries – citing various policies being implemented by these sectors to bridge gender gaps.
She said: “From current findings, the sectors are evolving as far as gender issues are concerned. At least, policies within these sectors demonstrate positive gender intent and inclusion”.
She further noted that current gender gaps in our Ghanaian institutions cannot be entirely blamed on laws governing them but also individuals’ socio-cultural norms, stressing that the law may be neutral but our own attitude plays a significant role in encouraging gender inequities.
The National Programmes Coordinator also mentioned issues around access to resources, finance, credit and land acquisitioning; adding that the gender provisions in our laws are not extensive and quite limited, being a key factor for gender gaps.
On recommendations, Ms. Darkey advocated for collaboration between institutions and the Gender ministry in order to identify effective policies for promoting gender inclusivity – and also noted that WiLDAF is still in the process of compiling more policy frameworks from these sectors in order to give effective recommendations.
