The ECOWAS subregion's gender and women's affairs stakeholders have been asked to step up their cooperation in order to address the underlying causes of discrimination and inequality.
They have been recommended to do this by making investments in their nations' educational and training systems, ensuring that people have access to healthcare, ensuring that equal pay is given for equal labor, and outlawing gender-based violence and harmful behaviors.
They have also been asked to cooperate in order to guarantee that women contribute fairly and adequately to the demands of member states in terms of development.
Meeting
Lariba Zuweira Abudu, the Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), made the request in a speech that was read out during a meeting in Accra on her behalf by her deputy, Francisca Oteng Mensah.
"Ministerial Meeting on the Validation of the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) Strategic Plan for 2023–2027" was the title of the gathering.
"Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls: An Imperative for the Achievement of Sustainable Development and Effective Regional Integration in West Africa" was the subject of the conference.
Before the conference, gender specialists from the ECOWAS member nations had been deliberating and recommending the strategic plan to ministries in charge of gender in the member nations throughout the previous two days.
The plan's objective was to encourage member states to pledge to implement gender-sensitive policies in order to promote the region.
equality for women
The minister for gender equality observed that there were still significant gender discrepancies throughout Africa, notably in the West African Subregion.
She urged participants to make sure that women had access to the tools, know-how, networks, and technology required to effectively engage in the local economy.
She emphasized the benefits of gender equality for all people, noting that it would not be successful in the sub-region alone.
Implementation
Professor Fatou Sow Sarr, the ECOWAS Commission's Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, urged the member states' ministries in charge of gender to follow the plan in order to accomplish their goal.
She applauded the ECOWAS Commission for launching the EGDC in 2003 with the goal of empowering and mobilizing women to take an active role in the process of regional integration.
Neematu Ziblim Adam, the director of the ECOWAS National Office in Ghana, asserted that addressing the gender gap was essential to meeting the long-term political, social, economic, cultural, and human security concerns of the populace.
According to the information that is currently available, there has been development in this area over the past several decades, but she continued, "There is more that policymakers need to pay attention to in order to achieve this goal by 2030."
According to her, the EGDC Strategic Plan (2023–2027) was appropriate, timely, and the proper move to help Member States' efforts to close this gender gap.
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