Gender, Mainstreaming Key To Accelerated Land Reforms

By Sebastian R. Freiku
Madam Sarah Antwi-Boasiako, Gender Specialist for the Land Administration Project (LAP-2), has called on Land Sector Agencies (LSAs) to consider gender mainstreaming as being key to accelerated land reforms in Ghana.

She said gender should not only be limited to women, but that it was about both sexes, and appreciating their roles, gender equality, gender mainstreaming in all the sectors of the economy for a better Ghana.

Madam Sarah Antwi made the call at a three-day workshop for Land Sector Implementing Agencies for the Land Administration Project (LAP-2) at the Radach Conference Centre in Tamale.

The workshop was organised by LAP, with participants drawn from all Land Sector Agencies in the region, with funding from the World Bank, CIDA, and Government of Ghana.

She noted that gender was about the social relations between women and men, girls and boys, but over the years, women in Ghana have been marginalized, in terms access to land and control, as well as other sectors such as education.

Madam Antwi-Boasiako noted that it was time Ghana woke-up to empower women, and denounce negative cultural practices, so as to partner their male counterparts for the socio-economic development of the country.

The Communications Specialist for the project, Mr. Kwaku Sersah-Johnson, called on the participants to help educate their respective communities on gender stereotypes and its ramifications on the development of an efficient Land administration system in Ghana.

According to him, issues of gender were critical to the successful implementation of LAP's objective on gender, hence the need for them to stay focused and get the issues right.

Mr. Sersah-Johnson noted that women, in particular, have a role to play in nation building, and should be allowed access and control to land use.

The participants brainstormed on topics such as Power and Gender Relations, and how gender stereotypes are conveyed in societies through proverbs, education, films, culture and songs, as a way of addressing gender issues.