Treatment of Black Queens Shameful - ABANTU For Development

We wish to congratulate the Black Queens of Ghana for their successful participation in the just ended 2015 All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo. We are particularly excited about this because of their trailblazing role as the first women’s football team to earn a gold medal for the country.

This was achieved in spite of the abysmal and disorganised national preparation and support provided by the authorities.

While in a congratulatory mood for our Queens, we are dismayed by the impasse currently going on about the financial settlement due them. It is said that they have not received any bonuses for the various qualifying matches they have played. This is totally unacceptable given the honour and sacrifice they have made to bring pride to the nation.

Again, we have been witnesses to the high profile approach the nation accords to football games played by our male compatriots and the urgency and volume of monies expended on them. While we appreciate our male footballers and encourage the nation to continue treating them as national Heroes, we demand similar and equal treatment of our Queens as national Sheroes.

We would not want to be associated with any information that points to Ghana as retrogressing on its already very slow pace on women’s empowerment and gender equality, as a result of the unequal treatment being meted out to our women.

We therefore demand that the authorities concerned act swiftly to redeem themselves and the nation from ridicule and gender discrimination. They must do this by honouring the Sheroes; paying all financial commitments due them; and developing a long term strategic framework to promote equality of treatment in football in Ghana.

Finally we call on policy makers in sports to fundamentally work towards transforming the whole system of football in Ghana, to promote justice and inclusiveness.