Public Agenda (Accra)
Baba Yaro Kofi
27 October 2008
Bolgatanga — Women have been urged to help promote peace before, during and after the forthcoming 2008 general elections since they were the most vulnerable during conflicts.
The Upper East Regional Director of Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs , Mrs. Paulina Abayage, made the call at a stakeholders meeting on the "Women's Contribution to Peaceful Election 2008" in Bolgatanga.
The Meeting, which attracted stakeholders from the major political parties, included the various female aspiring parliamentary candidates, constituency women organizers of the various political parties and their campaign teams, and leaders of women organizations among others.
The meeting organized by the Department of Women and sponsored by the Sustainable Peace Initiative was aimed at brainstorming and strategizing on how women could contribute their quota to help maintain peace in the upcoming elections.
Mrs. Abayage stressed on the need for women to take the mantle and spearhead the need to promote in the forthcoming elections, adding that when it comes to war it was women and children who suffered the most.
Presenting a Paper on "War and Femininity" and " Peace and Feminism", Mrs. Abayage said wars have always been conceptualized to be male affairs conducted by men and for men and women, when considered at all was seen as victims rather than perpetrators.
She explained that if peace was to be long lasting then it was necessary to re-examine the concept of peace to include women at the center than the periphery'
She indicated, "We have only one Ghana, which does not belong to only the feuding men and politicians. We as women must therefore rise up and take our rightful positions as peace makers and affect the peace before, during and after the December 7 elections ".
Mrs. Abayage indicated that gone were the days when men organized war on the battle field but now when there is war women and children are massacred at homes.
Mrs. Mariama Yayah, Upper East Regional Director of Children under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs entreated women to preach the message of peace to their husbands and children on the need to distance themselves from conflict during the elections.
Participants of the workshop asked all political parties to abide strictly by the code of conduct they signed.
They appealed to their women folks to always volunteer information pertaining to impending conflicts to the appropriate quarters to prevent conflict.
Participants appealed to leaders of political parties to campaign on issues and not on personnel attack so as not to cause violence.
They urged leaders of political parties to avoid ethnicity in their campaigns and to be tolerance to one another.
Participants asked Government and all stakeholders to involve women in peace initiatives during conflicts, stressing that women were seen as essentially peaceful yet they were not involve during peacemaking and asked that they should be involved in the process.
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