Mrs. Aku Xornam Kevi, Chief Executive Officer of PURIM African Youth Development Platform, a youth advocacy group, has called on women to support each other to make their voices heard in decision making. "If women would rally behind other women, they would not be said to be their own enemies. You should not hate all women because one of them has wronged you," she said. Mrs. Kevi was speaking at a forum for Gender Faith Teams organised by Interfaith Ghana, a non-governmental organisation in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation and the British Council. The main aim of the forum was to bring together female gender teams to discuss topics including "Women and Decision Making", "Modern Women and the Challenges they face", and "Women and Climate Change". Speaking on the topic "Women in Ghana: Challenges and Prospects", Mrs. Kevi noted that in spite of advocacy for equality, women still face several challenges in modern society. She stated that women are disadvantaged with respect to access and control of resources, political participation, decision making as well as equal opportunities in education and employment. Women, she said, also suffer increased risk to HIV/AIDS, effects of climate change and inequality in power, which sometimes manifest in violence against females. Mrs. Kevi said although there are some opportunities for women, such as laws and policies, university quota systems, women only programmes and education on climate change, most of them did not take advantage of them because of the mindset with which they were brought up at home. She urged parents to treat their male and female children equally so that the females could also build confidence to take advantage of the opportunities open to them. Ms Joyce Renee Laryea, Project Co-ordinator at Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, said women should be involved in discussions about climate change on the local and international levels as they are most affected by the phenomenon. She said the manifestations of climate change, wars and floods affected women more because they relied more on natural resources like water and agricultural produce to cater for their families. Ms Laryea called for the involvement of women in decision making processes and a policy that would address the effects of climate change on women's livelihoods to improve their economic condition. Participants at the forum included female students from Osu Presbyterian Senior High School, Labone Senior High School, hairdressers under the National Youth Employment Programme, self help initiative support services, Islamic University and Girls Empowerment Network. Interfaith Ghana was established in May 2010 to foster understanding between the various religious groups in order to promote peace and development. Source: GNA