A fellow of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Bashiratu Kamal Muslim has proposed that the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection be made a Cabinet Minister.

This, she explained is as a way of ensuring that issues related to gender and the marginalized in society are given the needed attention.

“The absence of the Gender Minister in cabinet means that it’s a lot more difficult to bring certain issues onto the agenda” she said at a webinar to end this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations under the theme: ‘Celebrating Women in Leadership in a Pandemic’. 

The webinar, sought to examine how women leaders from various sections of society are coping with the pandemic, as well as their reflections on what could be done to help women and society as a whole cope better in this and future pandemics.

Panelists included, Kathleen Addy, Deputy Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education, Dr. Hawa Malechi, Obstetrician and Gyneacologist, Mercy Needjan, President of the Greater Accra Markets Association, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, lawyer and politician and Bashiratu Kamal Muslim, CSJ Council member and Fellow for Gender and Social Inclusion.

Dr. Amanda Coffie, Council member of the CSJ and co-moderator of the webinar said that the panel is a reflection of the various sectors within which women hold leadership and have helped steer affairs through the crisis.

Bashiratu Kamal Muslim and Joyce Bawah Mogtari, in their submissions called for greater participation of women in the political space, and noted that women were underrepresented in the President’s Ministerial appointments with only one out of 16 Regional Ministers being a woman.

Kathleen Addy, Deputy Chair of the NCCE said that her organization has worked tirelessly to educate Ghanaians at the national and local level on how to protect themselves from the COVID-19 virus.