ActionAid wants society to recognize unpaid work of women
ActionAid-Ghana has advocated the need for society to recognize the positive role of women in household chores, also referred to as unpaid care works, and distribute such roles equitably to both sexes.
Madam Azumi Mesuna, Project Manager for Women’s Right to Sustainable Livelihoods of ActionAid-Ghana, said a baseline survey conducted by her outfit indicated that women, particularly rural farmers, spent about five hours daily on works which are neither paid for nor recognized.
She suggested the need for the government and community in general to recognize the roles of women in unpaid care work and redistribute the chores to enable women to make good use of their economic time.
Madam Mesuna was addressing a two-day workshop in Tamale on Monday on unpaid care training for community facilitators and partners. It is part of the implementation stages of women’s rights to sustainable livelihoods, a three-year project being funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She said the best way in making unpaid work recognized was to start changing the belief that unpaid care work was primarily the responsibility of women and girls and that it was not as valuable as men’s contribution through paid work and demand acknowledgment of its value from communities and local leaders.
She urged women to demand more public services from local and national authorities to fulfill their basic human rights and support their households to provide better quality care, while saving them time and energy to engage in other activities.
Madam Mesuna said: ‘Through this process the programme seeks to support women’s individual and collective empowerment’.
He said the sustainable livelihood project was targeting 3000 women small holder farmers in Northern Region and Upper East Region to expand their production while 500 of them would be given livestock for rearing, food processing collectives and exchange visits between Ghana and Rwanda for knowledge sharing.
Mr Oliver Atibila, Focal Person for the Project in the Talensi and Nabdam Districts, said the project was making moderate progress and had trained women groups in that area with the acquisition of parcels of land to enable them to owe their farms.
He said the project was also liaising with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Ministry of Agriculture to provide them with certified seeds for cultivation.
Source: GNA