28 October 2008
Women have been urged to help promote peace before, during and after the December general elections.
Mrs. Paulina Abayage, Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Women made the call last Thursday at a stakeholders meeting on "Women's Contribution to Peaceful Election 2008" in Bolgatanga.
The meeting attracted stakeholders from the major political parties including the various female aspiring parliamentary candidates, constituency women organizers and campaign teams, and leaders of women organizations among others.
The meeting was organized by the Department of Women of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs and sponsored by the Sustainable Peace Initiative.
Mrs. Abayage stressed the need for women to take the mantle and spearhead the quest for peace in the forthcoming elections, adding that when it came 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 had always been conceptualized to be male affairs conducted by men and for men, and if women were considered at all, they were 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 centre rather than leave them at the periphery.
Mrs. Abayage said: "We have only one Ghana, which does not belong to only the feuding men and politicians. We as women must therefore rise and take our rightful positions as peace makers and preach peace before, during and after the December 7 elections".
Mrs. Mariama Yayah, Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Children of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs entreated women to preach the message of peace to their husbands and children.
She appealed to leaders of political parties to campaign on issues that are of importance to the electorate and avoid ethnicity in their campaigns.
Participants called on the government and other stakeholders in peace initiatives to include women in conflict resolutions, stressing that women were seen as essentially peaceful yet they were not involved in peacemaking.
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