Ghana is training paralegals inside market centres and mobilising communities across the country to ensure that ordinary women and girls know their rights and can use them, the country's Gender Minister has told the United Nations.

Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, made the disclosure whilst addressing the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York on March 8, 2026, the same day the world marked International Women's Day.

Her remarks drew attention to what she described as a ground-level push to democratise access to justice, one that goes beyond courtrooms and legislation to reach women in the places where they actually live and work.

"We are intensifying community engagement to empower women and girls with knowledge of their rights so that they are better positioned to seek redress, demand accountability and challenge injustice," Dr Lartey told fellow ministers and delegates gathered for the general discussion.

The Minister said the training drive extends to judicial officers, law enforcement agencies, and social service providers, with a particular emphasis on equipping paralegals operating within market centres to handle cases involving women and girls both effectively and sensitively.

It is an approach that reflects Ghana's recognition that justice systems, however well designed on paper, mean little to women who cannot navigate them.

Dr Lartey told the Commission that Ghana has backed these community-level efforts with a solid legislative foundation, citing the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act of 2024, the National Gender Policy spanning 2025 to 2034, the Social Protection Act of 2025, the Cybersecurity Act of 2020, the Land Act of 2020, and the Environmental Protection Act of 2025 as key frameworks guiding the country's gender equality agenda.

She also pointed to institutional reforms targeting gender-based violence, including the creation of specialised units within the Ghana Police Service and the operationalisation of gender desks at both national and local levels.

These measures, she said, are yielding improvements in how cases are reported, managed, and prosecuted, with the judiciary, social welfare services, and civil society organisations working in closer coordination than before.

In Ghana, she told the session, the matter goes beyond policy. "Ensuring access to justice for all women and girls is not only a legal obligation, but also a moral and developmental imperative," she said.

She added that justice underpins everything from peace and equality to the full realisation of human rights and sustainable development.

The Minister was candid that the work is far from complete, acknowledging that social, economic, and structural barriers remain formidable obstacles for many women and girls seeking justice.

She called on international partners to stand with Ghana in dismantling discriminatory laws and challenging the harmful social norms that continue to hold women back.

"We look forward to a future where access to justice is not merely an aspiration, but a lived reality for every woman and girl," she said, closing her address to the Commission.