Deputy Commissioner of Immigration in-Charge of Special Duties, DCOI Maud Anima Quainoo, has advised female Security Officers to be courageous and to upgrade themselves academically to take up leadership positions in their respective workplaces.

She said it was not easy being a career woman and a mother, “but when we are confident, focused, courageous and continue to upgrade ourselves academically, nothing can be impossible.”

Speaking at a day’s Mentorship Workshop in Accra, she emphasised the need to acknowledge the crucial roles female security officers played in safety and security of migrants.

DCOI Quainoo urged the particpants to use their Women Associations to look at unfavourable policies  and come out with proposals that would be gender-friendly.

The workshop, organised by the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS), University of Ghana, was on the theme: “Reframing Migration, Forced Displacement and Gender Equalities: Perspectives from Female Security Officers.”

More than 70 selected senior and junior female security officers from different security agencies in Accra participated in the workshop.

It aimed at building the capacity of the participants on the gender inequalities migrants face at the borders, integration challenges as well as the abuses migrant women face in the labour market.

It was funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the Migration For Development And Equality (MIDEQ) Project, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) under the Research Chair Project on Forced Displacement, Anglophone West Africa, the South-South Migration Network: Africa Hub, and the Gender Mainstreaming Section of the Ghana Immigration Service.

The workshop also offered the opportunity for female security officers to reflect on how their roles as border and migration policymakers and implementers have been socially constructed through the lens of patriarchy and male dominance; and how women migrant workers in turn suffer the consequences.

Professor Mary Boatemaa Setrana, Research Chair on Forced Displacement and Director for CMS, said the theme was chosen based on the longstanding relationship between the Center for Migration Studies and the Ghana Immigration Service.

She noted that the relationship between the CMS and GIS had progressed positively and been strengthened through the educational training of security officers.

Several MAs, MPhils and PhDs have been awarded to security officers who successfully completed the Centre for Migration Studies programmes.

“This relationship has gone beyond awarding of degrees to opening opportunities for the two institutions to unpack issues that adversely affect security officers and find solutions to these issues.

“Also, the relationship led the CMS to undertake research projects that focus on the relationship between security officers’ rights and protection and their support for migrant rights.

Prof Setrana said the findings showed that security officers’ rights and protection in line of duty are often ignored. “To tackle this issue, two years ago, we organised a training session on gender inequalities and migrant protection.

“This year, we have decided to step up our solution-oriented approach to research by building the capacity of women security officers through mentorship,” added.

Prof Setrana said she hoped that through the mentorship workshop they would understand how participants roles as border and migration policymakers and implementers had been socially constructed through the lens of patriarchy and male dominance; and how the citizens as a whole and women migrant workers in turn suffer the consequences of such social constructions.

“Secondly, reflect on the best strategies we have and how to continue to negotiate the inequalities in our various fields of work.

Thirdly, encourage ourselves and identify appropriate measures to contribute to the society, family and nation while also achieving maximum satisfaction as professional women, she said.

Dr Joyce Koi-Akrofi, an Expert in Mentoring, took participants through the various types of mentoring and urged them to incorporate them in their daily activities to achieve positive results at their workplaces.