2015 World Rural Women's Day:Journalists Urged To Support Rights Of Rural Women

Ghana has joined the World today to commemorate the World Rural Women's Day with a call on Journalists and Policy makers to do their bid in support for the rights of rural women in the country.

Women in law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF-Ghana) and its counterparts in the fight for women’s rights in Ghana are strongly advocating for media support as well as policy makers to ensure that rural women are legally assisted when it comes to issues of land acquisition as Ghana joins the world to commemorate the world rural women’s Day today.

Program Officer for WiLDAF-Ghana, Mad. Lois Adoamoah-Addo, made the call at media soiree event organized by her outfit with support from other stakeholders on Monday ahead of the actual celebration day of the World Rural Women’s Day which is today; October 15, 2015.

The media soiree event was aimed at drawing the attention of the media to the plights of vulnerable rural women in the society when it comes to issues of the acquisition of land.

It also seeks to solicit the support of the media to help dedicate their energy and time in educating the public on the law pertaining to land acquisition as well as impress upon the policy makers to consider rural women into formulation of policies regarding land acquisition amongst others, she says.

In an interview with Journalists, Mad. Lois Adoamoah-Addo said, “the contribution of rural women in the country towards national development has been tremendous but when we get to see their issues and challenges year after year, we don’t see much progress in terms of assistance.”

According to her, policy programs seems to address issues on gender which affects women most but said “when it comes to tracking at the grass roots levels, it is either less or it does not affect them at all.

Lois Adoamoah-Addo wants government to consider the plight of women in the rural areas into the policy making processes and to ensure that they equally benefit from these policies as demanded by right.

“You see many times, they’ve not benefit from these policies and programs, so we want to remind government about these plans that they have for rural women that they need to make sure that it trickles down to the ordinary rural woman who is working day and night to ensure that they get food on our tables” she stressed.

The World Rural Women's Day is a global event marked annually in more than 100 countries around the world to recognize the role of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.

Launched by several International NGOs during the 4th UN World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995 and a worldwide empowerment and educational campaign, the first International Day of Rural Women was observed on October 15, 2008.

Women in Law and Development in Africa- Ghana (WiLDAF Ghana) is a women's rights-based, non- governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and strengthening strategies that link law and development to increase women's participation and influence at the local, national and international.

The event was jointly organized by WiLDAF-Ghana, Send Ghana, Civil Society Coalition on Land (CICOL), Oxfam, Peasant farmers Association of Ghana on the theme: “From rhetoric to action”

In attendance were over 30 selected journalists drawn from broadcast stations like Television, radio, online, and print media including some stakeholders from Civil Society Organizations to promote the day.