Ghana

“It is not a secret that when it comes to gender equality, education is the key to change”

“We instituted the Girl Child Program which encourages parents to send girls to school, and at the primary level we have achieved gender parity between boys and girls.”

“Among those traditions are the ones that refuse individuals--particularly women and children--their basic rights and force them into situations that relegate them to a life of vulnerability to poverty, disease and other unbearable hardships. “

“Most of the world's poorest people are women. Currently we create programs and policies to address this imbalance, yet regardless of how successful they may be, they are not permanent solutions. They do not solve the ultimate problem, which is the vast inequality between men and women that so many traditions have inculcated. “

“But what happens beyond the primary level is another matter altogether. Young girls are often taken out of school and married off. Africa has the highest rates of child marriage in the world, following only Asia. It was the intention of the United Nations' 1964 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum for Marriage and Registration of Marriages to abolish the practice of child marriage. Still, in West Africa, two out of five girls is married before the age of 18. These young girls are faced with increased maternal mortality rates and increased STD rates; they are subject to the sort of poverty that is nearly insurmountable. However, research shows that 64% fewer girls would become child brides if they completed secondary school.”