Climaxing the Women’s Month Celebrations - Hannah Audrey Arthur

Hannah Audrey Arthur

The International Women’s Day 2021 was dubbed # Choose to Challenge with the United Nations celebrating it under the theme: ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a Covid-19 World.’ This was a day to celebrate the great efforts of women in various spheres of development and serve as a rallying cry for more to be done. 

Even though International Women’s Day was celebrated on the 8th of March, the entire month of March was considered by many as a celebration of the achievements of women. hashtag for the theme of this year’s celebration trended on Social Media platforms in Ghana and in a great move in the right direction, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection launched the domestic Violence Call Centre as part of means to increase awareness of women’s rights and equality, especially in these uncertain times. 

There was also a sensitization exercise for the market women at the Agbobloshie and Madina Markets to educate them on their rights and as well as keep them informed of the progress being made. The Office of the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana put out an encouraging message as well and overall, it was a good day.

In the succeeding days, various webinars and seminars were organized by several stakeholders to celebrate the achievements of women and help address issues limiting the strides of women in our country and the world. These were all great efforts yet in my opinion, there is more room for improvement. From my perspective, there was not enough awareness and dissemination of information.

The first point is the confusion of most people as many confused this day with Mother’s Day! International Women’s Day is meant to honour the cultural, political and socio-economic achievements of women whilst Mother’s Day is set aside to acknowledge and celebrate motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers on society. These two days are of great importance but not the same and many appeared befuddled about the difference between them.

Also, I strongly believe that the media could have a done a better job of reaching the masses before the D-day. International Women’s Day was not meant for celebration in the cities only or reflections by the educated. It is for all women and in my view, the message did not reach everyone.

Conclusively, it is my fervent hope that next year’s message will reach a larger audience. That, it will not only be for the intellectuals or scholars but the history behind this celebration and the great women who have contributed to the success story will reach every nook and cranny imprinting on a young girl out there that she matters and can make a difference as well.