Ghana: Reaping the Double Dividend of Gender Equality
By: Phyllis D. Osabutey

21 February, 2007-(Accra) This year's UNICEF report on the State of the World's Children is geared towards achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3, which is to promote gender equality and empower women to yield a double benefit for women and children.

The double dividend is expected to better the lives of women and children as well as contribute to the attainment of all the other MDGs, which are, to reduce poverty and hunger, improve maternal health, ensure universal education and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

The remaining goals are to ensure environmental sustainability and develop new and innovative partnerships for development in the world by 2015.

In this report, UNICEF calls for more rights and equality for women and children and expresses worry that in spite of the international community's commitment to gender equality and the existence of numerous declarations and conventions, millions of women and girls throughout the world remain disempowered and discriminated against while plagued with poverty.

Declarations, conventions and goals alone are not enough to attain gender equity as pointed out in the report which further stated, "It is imperative that we move resolutely from the realm of words to the realm of concrete action."

The double dividend of gender equality must go beyond bettering the lives of women and children, to the achievement of economic self-sufficiency and security from gender violence and discrimination, which situation UNICEF says would be the realization of its mission for a world fit for children.

The report stresses that gender equality and the well-being of children go hand in hand and when women are empowered to live full and productive lives, children prosper, while on the other hand, when women are denied equal opportunity within society, children suffer.

The report notes with regret that twenty-seven years after the adoption of the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its ratification by about 184 countries, millions of women and girls in particular remain powerless, voiceless and without rights.

Some areas of gender discrimination across the life cycle identified in the report include at the early stages of life, middle years of childhood and adolescence, primary and secondary education, female genital mutilation, child marriage and premature parenthood.

Others include sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, violence against women and girls as well as motherhood and old age, stressing, "gender discrimination is pervasive. While the degrees and forms of inequality may vary, women and girls are deprived of equal access to resources, opportunities and political power in every region of the world."

In view of this, the report examines the present status of women, noting that the status of women is deeply intertwined with the well-being of children; hence healthy, educated and empowered women are more likely to have healthy, educated and confident children.

Gender equality in areas such as high education among women also correlates with improved results for children's survival and development. By upholding women's rights, societies then protect girl children and female adolescents.

Noting that inequality is always tragic and sometimes fatal, the report insists on the removal of all obstacles to gender equality, to allow for development and calls on governments to enforce international conventions and national laws pertaining to women and children.

The media and civil society organizations are also urged to play their watchdog roles to publicly scrutinize and hold officials accountable for their unfulfilled promises since failure to secure equality for all has harmful consequences for the moral, legal and economic fabric of nations.

Equality in the household Inequalities in household decision-making, more bargaining than cooperation, lack of control over health care needs, limited management of daily household expenditure, restricted mobility and freedom, and domestic violence are the many issues raised under this topic.

A key issue is how members of a household use their collective resources to determine the levels of nutrition, healthcare, education and protection for each member of the household.

In this regard, UNICEF notes that the most important actors for children are not political leaders and heads of development agencies but parents and caregivers who make these critical household decisions such as how to divide scarce food among parents and siblings and who has to go to school or work in the field on daily basis.

The report states that when women have a fair say, children benefit, in that women prioritize nutrition, family health care and education and generally place premium on the welfare related goals of the family and are also more likely to use their influence and resources they control to promote the needs of children.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200702210935.html