19 September 2007
Professor Miranda Greenstreet, Chairperson of the Gender Development Institute (GDI) on Monday pointed out that although rape is the most often cited sexual violence against women, female genital mutilation, trokosi and widowhood rites were also forms of sexual and gender based violence.
She said these cannot be overlooked or justified on the grounds of tradition, culture or social conformity.
She said the term, also encompassed a wide variety of abuses that included sexual threats, exploitation, humiliation, assaults, molestation, incest involuntary prostitution, torture, and insertion of objects into genital openings.
Prof. Greenstreet, who is also a member of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM) Governing Council, was speaking at the opening of "The 4th International Conference on Gender", being organized by the GDI, at Elmina.
The five-day event, is under the theme: "Sexual and Gender-Based Violence- A social Nightmare-Provoking Action", and has more than 50 representatives of gender-based organizations and institutions from Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa and Belgium attending.
They would be briefing each other on the situations in their respective countries and exchange ideas as to how best to contribute towards resolving the situation.
She acknowledged that men and young boys, may also be vulnerable to sexual violence, but women and girls were more vulnerable, and cite surveys in Ghana in 1999 which revealed that such crimes against women, were mostly not reported for a variety of reasons, including threats, shyness, ignorance or fear of parents and relatives.
In an address read for her, the Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, (MOWAC), Hajia Alima Mahama, said the need to ensure that attention to gender perspectives is an integral part of interventions in all areas of social development was made clear in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
The government of Ghana, she said was through various interventions, such as gender mainstreaming, ensuring balanced development through the equitable distribution of resources and benefits to both males and females.
She also briefed them on other policies and programmes geared towards women and girls' welfare and empowerment, through the establishment of MOWAC, which she said, was also training chief directors on gender concepts and gender mainstreaming.
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