Gender
Sexual Assault Awareness Month …A call to action
Her mother noticed she was not bubbly as she used to when she returned from school on Friday afternoon.
Dzidzor kept to herself throughout the rest of the day and refused to have lunch or dinner with the family.
Before her mother went to bed, she went to see her daughter in her room only to see her soaked in her own tears and could not get out as she tried to help her out of bed.
Dzidzor’s mother called for help to lift her 13-year old daughter out of bed. And as her oldest son run into the room, Dzidzor passed out.
As they lifted her from the bed, they noticed she was soaked in blood.
Earlier on her way home, Dzidzor was ambushed and defiled by two of her seniors in school who had been making advances at her for the past four months.
Dzidzor’s story mirrors the plight victims of sexual assault go through and the need for parents, teachers, and non-governmental organisations to tackle the issue and its associated challenges heads on.
Globally the month of April is celebrated as the Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM).
This year, the campaign would be marked on the theme ‘Together we act, united we change,’ and highlights the importance of working together to address and prevent sexual abuse, assault, and harassment.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month is an opportunity to listen to and honour survivors in our community and show those impacted by sexual violence that they are not alone.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic or otherwise directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), one in seven aged between 15-49 have experience sexual violence at some point in their lives according to the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS).
The report states that six per cent of women aged 15 and 49 experienced sexual violence within 12 months preceding the survey.
This finding is an indication of prevalence of human right abuse in the country which requires stringent measures to address.
It also mentioned that sexual violence can be experienced by every woman aged 15-49 years irrespective of one’s marital status; the proportions however, vary across different categories.
Over 53 per cent of women and over 29 per cent of men reported experiencing sexual violence (Chen, et al., 2023).
Sexual assault or violence impacts everyone and anyone can be a victim of sexual violence. People who commit such atrocities exist in communities.
Sexual violence is an umbrella term that includes any type of unwanted sexual contact including sexual abuse, assault, harassment, unwanted sexual contact or touching, exploitation and trafficking, exposing one’s genitals or naked body to other without consent, nonconsensual image sharing or coercion, words and actions of sexual nature against a person’s will and without their consent.
Sexual assault or violence can stem out of privilege and power, tolerance of abuse, unsatisfied sexual desires, patriarchal norms and corruption.
Everyone in each community, whether at the workplace, school, deserves to live in safe and supportive environments where they are treated with respect.
In tackling assault or violence, education is the first step to action. In education, empowering various communities to be part of the solution is key.
The Ghanaian Times newspaper reported that the Civic Education Officer of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mrs Phebemary Makafui Adodo-Samani, has proposed the adoption of April as Sexual Violence Awareness Month in Ghana.
This according to her would help educate the public, especially children, about the devastating effects of sexual violence and promote a culture of consent.
“As the world observes April as Sexual Violence Awareness Month, I will urge Ghana to also adopt this international event as a national awareness campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence and abuse just like we do in October to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and it working positively,” she said.
Mrs Adodo-Samani made the call at a seminar organised by the Accra Technical University in partnership with “I Believe Global” in Accra last Friday to mark the International Women’s Day.
In March 2018, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Henrietta Fore says it was committed to tackling all forms of sexual misconduct and sexual violence.
According to her, it continuously strives to tackle sexual exploitation and abuse and to improve the safety of the people, especially in settings where the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse rises.
She said UNICEF’s goal was always to be zero victims of sexual exploitation and abuse but said it was harder to address an unreported case than a reported case.
Ms Fore said it takes measures to protect those who report, to assist victims, to address the individual accountability of perpetrators, and to learn from mistakes.
“We have enhanced our investigation process to ensure that reports of sexual misconduct can be promptly investigated, even if the victim does not file a formal complaint,” she said.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
Gender equality should not be left to women alone, but requires the active participation of men and other stakeholders, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has said.
She said gender equality was a national development issue and not a matter concerning only women, stressing that both men and women had important roles to play in creating an inclusive society.
Dr Lartey said this last Thursday in Accra at a capacity workshop on the implementation of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024.
The workshop was aimed at helping journalists understand the provisions of the Act, strengthen their capacity to communicate gender equity issues and promote accurate, balance reporting on the implementation of the Act.
Ghana could not achieve meaningful development if one section of society was excluded from participating fully in leadership, decision-making and other areas of national development.
“It is not about a group of people. It is not about one of the sexes. It is about the nation. It is about the country,” she said.
She called for stronger commitment to translating the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024 (Act 1121), into practical action to improve women’s participation in leadership and decision-making.
She said the passage of the law should not be considered the end of the process, but rather the beginning of deliberate efforts to ensure that its objectives were achieved.
Dr Lartey said increasing the number of women in leadership was important, but their participation must also have a meaningful impact on national development.
“We want it to count,” she stressed, calling for practical initiatives that would move the affirmative action agenda from policy to implementation.
The Executive Director of Women, Media and Change (WOMEC), Dr Charity Binka, also urged the media to play a critical role in ensuring the effective implementation of the Act.
She said Ghana had taken an important step by passing the law after 13 years of efforts, but the real test was its implementation.
According to Dr Binka, the Act requires 30 per cent representation of women in leadership and decision-making by 2026, rising to 50 per cent by 2030.
She urged the media to inform the public about the law, monitor institutions’ compliance and challenge stereotypes that undermine women’s leadership.
Dr Binka urged journalists to ensure institutions were complying with requirements, including Gender Equity Policies, Compliance Certificates and annual reports.
She said affirmative action was not about replacing merit with gender, but addressing structural barriers that had historically limited qualified women’s opportunities to participate and lead.
She called for stronger collaboration among government, civil society, traditional and religious leaders, the private sector, the media and other stakeholders to turn the law into measurable results for women and girls.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
The United Nations has warned, that Gender equality is “woefully off track.”
At the current rate of progress, gender equality would take 171 years to achieve, the UN’s Gender Snapshot report said.
The number of countries with a woman as head of state or government has increased from 2020 to 2026. “Yet six in seven countries are still led by men.
Women’s representation in national cabinets declined to 22.4 per cent in 2026, after peaking at 23.3 per cent in 2024,” the report said. “The decline is a warning sign that gains cannot be taken for granted, and that progress towards equal political power remains fragile.”
Funding for gender equality has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, the report found. At the same time, 42 per cent of UN agencies reported that their efforts to promote gender equality had been weakened, as a result of budget cuts.
Millions of women also continued to endure some extremely severe forms of violence and discrimination across the globe, the UN said. Nearly one in five girls is married before the age of 18, and nearly one in three women globally have survived partner or sexual violence in their lifetime.
In the past year, 316 million women experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, the report said.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Li Junhua, said the statistics were not inevitable. “It is the result of choices, made visible through data. Investing in gender equality, institutions, and the statistical systems that hold them to account is not a cost. It is the fastest route back to the 2030 Agenda’s promise of equal power for all.”-GNA
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