ActionAid Ghana, in collaboration with the Local Government Ministry, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT), and ABANTU for Development, has launched a nationwide campaign on workplace violence.
The launch was under the theme ‘Decent Work Now for Women in the Informal Economy’, and was meant to advocate for the rights and freedoms of workers, especially women who suffer harassment and inequality at their workplace.
Sumaila Abdul Rahman, the Country Director of ActionAid, speaking during the launch, mentioned that, “ActionAid’s global campaign is targeted at specific groups of women whom we like to call women at risk. It captures women in the informal sector, and those who are not adequately covered by the labour laws and/or cannot mobilise themselves to push for their rights to be respected.”
He also stressed that, “The economic exploitation goes beyond the issue of poor remuneration, job security, working for long hours and doing unpaid jobs. It extends to easily overlooked areas such as no social security nor any form of pension plan, no paid maternity leaves, no paid sick leaves, limited access to credit and financial support facilities, a lack of health and safety measures during work and many others.”
ActionAid Ghana’s priority is to work to ensure the rights of women in the informal sector, especially domestic workers and traders.
Government is also responding positively to protect the rights of women in the campaign for workplace violence.
The Municipal Chief Executive of the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, Jennifer Dede Afagbedzi, in a speech delivered on her behalf by Mr Kwasi Adankwa, said, “The assembly has been working hard towards ensuring decent work for women in the municipality through the training of workers in agriculture and other sectors, providing suitable work environment and educating workers on the newly passed Labour Act to decent work.
“There are also women co-operatives to bring women together in relation to their work and finances to assure a suitable work environment and to ensure decent work. They also work with other civil society and non-governmental organisations to protect the rights of women in the informal sector.”
In an interview on the sidelines, Sumaila Abdul Rahman of ActionAid said women have been marginalised in all aspects of life, thus the global campaign will continue until the problem of inequality is solved.
According to the Women’s Rights and Campaign Manager of Action Aid Ghana, Margaret Brew-Ward, “ActionAid is calling upon other stakeholders to come join the campaign.”
The campaign is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 10, which seek to ensure gender equality and reduce inequality, respectively.
Head of Gender and Child Protection of the TUC said in a sideline interview that the TUC has since 2018 collaborated with ActionAid, and is looking forward to collaborating on gender-based violence activities, hence the congress is in extreme support of the campaign of ActionAid. TUC is urging government to support the campaign
NETRIGHT, a group that has been in partnership with ActionAid to ensure that the voices of women are heard, was also present to support the ActionAid campaign, which is in line with the International Labour Organisation Conference agenda on ending violence in the world of work.
The launch continued with women who shared their experience of harassment at their places of work (in the informal section). One of the victims of harassment shared how her boss tried to sleep with her before giving her a job. Another also shared how she was maltreated as a domestic worker by different families.
The launch ended with the T-Shirt-clad women going on a float around the Madina Market to mark the beginning of the ‘Decent Work Now for Women in the Informal Economy’ campaign.
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