Ghana Armed Forces chalks successes in gender parity
By Isaac AIDOO, Accra
In spite of considerable barriers to gender parity, the Ghana Armed Forces has made significant progress in fostering gender inclusivity and giving women equal opportunities to compete for promotions as their male counterparts.
Speaker after speaker at the panel discussion on women in peace-keeping held in Accra, admired the achievements of Ghanaian women in uniform , especially women in the Ghana Armed Forces and serving on international peacekeeping assignments.
In a bid to shed light on the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda and create awareness on the need to increase the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in peace and political processes, conflict prevention, peacebuilding efforts and in peacekeeping as well as appreciate efforts being made by Ghana to advance the WPS agenda, the United Nations organised a film screening and a panel discussion on the subject.
The session was under the aegis of the United Nations Information Centre in Accra supported financially by the department of peace operations in New York through the government of Denmark with the collective team of the United Nations in Ghana’s gender sub-working group.
The forum highlighted the pivotal role of women in peacekeeping and on the WPS Agenda, and efforts to advance the agenda, including by addressing gender stereotypes, promoting the recruitment and retention of women in leadership and combat roles, and building more diverse and gender-responsive security institutions to tackle the challenges of today and the future.
Naval Officer and Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Force, UN Missions, Commodore Faustina Boakyewaa Anokye touted the achievements of Ghana’s Military High Command in spearheading women’s participation in peacekeeping duties.
“I doff my hat to the military high command for walking the talk and gradually mainstreaming gender in all aspects of its activities and removing barriers through reviews of some of our regulations and giving women equal opportunities to compete for promotions and positions ,”she stated.
Commodore Anokye recalled some of the challenges women in the services had had to deal with in reaching their present positions. She made recommendations to further deepen the role of women in the hitherto male dominated.
The National Information Officer at the United Nations Information Centre , Mrs Cynthia Prah noted that strengthening the meaningful participation of women peacekeepers was a priority for the UN peace keeping adding that “it is an operational necessity.”
In 2022, the Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations announced a USD 3.7 million funding to the Ghana Armed Forces to substantially increase the number of military women who deploy into peacekeeping missions and to transform the GAF to be more gender inclusive. The funding was for a 3-year period.
