U/E/R: Gender and Climate Change conference underway in Bolgatanga

One of the many threats climate change poses in Africa is reversing years of progress in bridging the gender gap.

Men and women experience the effects of climate change differently. Non-inclusive growth, cultural biases, and patriarchal systems have positioned women more vulnerable to climate change impact. However, women's voices are often been muted in the formulation of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

It is against this drop that the Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities (YARO) with funding from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Economy Policy Competence Centre (FESEPCC) has organized a 3-day conference on Gender and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region.

The conference is under the theme “Towards Gender Equality and Climate Change ‘Sustainability’ in Ghana: Perspectives, Policies, and Practices”. About 60 participants mostly women, Chiefs, Queen mothers, and opinion leaders were drawn from the 5 Northern Region. It was organized as part of activities to commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD).

In his opening address, the Executive Director of (YARO) Douri Bennin Hajei said issues of women being brought to the fore such as equality and equity have contributed and uplifted women, especially across northern Ghana. He said, without women, the world will be in darkness.

Mr. Bennin stated that women in Northern savannah, Upper East and West, and Ghana as a whole have proven that, women are real leaders, people who keep the home and communities whether security, forest, transformation, and peasant farming among others. "Our women have shown a resilience that when they are leading, we become smart in economics, business, planning, and design."

Mr. Hajei added that the empowerment of women is very crucial in building climate resilience since there are numerous examples where women are empowered in communities to exercise leadership positions that have contributed immensely to climate resilience ranging from disaster preparedness to better forest management and coping with drought. He said the northern woman most especially, are not just victims of climate change, they are also the agents, leaders, and champions in reversing the dangers of climate change.

The Programme Coordinator FESEPCC Eunice Asiedu indicated that the Women’s Anniversary celebration brings to the fore, the impact made so far.

She said it reawakens women's consciousness of how functional the socio-economics systems are, inclusive growth rate, whether the vulnerable are made better or worse off as well as the level of inclusive growth the structural transformation has accorded women.

Ms. Asiedu stated that FESEPCC has been organizing conferences on how climate change is affecting employment and migration in the northern parts of Ghana. One thing that stood clear she lamented is how climate change has disproportionately affected women.