World Leaders Must Do More For Women

The CEO of Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), Raphael Godlove Ahenu Jr, has called on world leaders to put in place prudent interventions to get more than one billion in the world today, the great majority of whom are women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty, mostly in the developing countries out of poverty.

In a statement to mark this year's International Women's Day , in Sunyani, Mr. Ahenu Jr. said even though Women are the backbone of the rural economy, especially in the developing world, yet they receive only a fraction of the land, credit, inputs (such as improved seeds and fertilizers), agricultural training and information compared to men.

According to him, empowering and investing in rural women would significantly increase productivity, reduce hunger and malnutrition and improve rural livelihoods.

He said increasing women's access to land, livestock, education, financial services, extension, technology and rural employment would boost their productivity and generate gains in agricultural output, food security, economic growth and social welfare. He noted that about 70 per cent of the developing world's 1.4 billion extremely poor people living in rural areas and key areas of concern are Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Touching on the theme for this year's celebration: The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum", the CEO stressed the need for the African Leaders to give priority to gender issues to help close the gender gap between women and men.

He commended President John Dramani Mahama for appointing many women as Ministers; however he was quick to add that President Mahama should do more to appoint more women as Deputy Ministers and DCEs in his next appointments.

He hinted that as part of activities to commemorate the day, GLOMEF will in April this year honoured three queen mothers in the Brong-Ahafo region for their contribution towards the chief institution in the region and their role in empowering women and children.

The statement also solute all women achievers for their immense contribution towards the development of women in particular and world as a whole