The Member of Parliament for Ketu South, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has advocated for women along coastal communities worldwide to have multiple streams of income.
According to her, this will help such women along the coast mitigate the effects of climate change on their livelihoods.
Speaking at the Forum of Women Parliamentarians on the sidelines of the ongoing Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Manama, Bahrain, Dzifa Gomashie used her constituency in the Volta Region of Ghana as a case study for women in such areas to be financially equipped at all material times.
She recounted the harrowing experience women went through when tidal waves swept across major parts of her constituency, while reiterating the need for women to have other sources of income.
“I’m a Member of Parliament in a coastal community, and I see the devastation from the tidal waves and its effects on my people, so if women don’t have other sources of livelihoods, when the effects of climate change come they suffer, and that also affects their children’s participation in academic activities and their stay in school,” she said.
Dzifa Gomashie also added that most women who are single parents have to deal with the arduous responsibility of raising their children, saying the effects of climate change and global warming will ultimately affect their sources of income.
Touching on the challenges women in northern Ghana face, she said that anytime there’s a drought, pastoral nomads migrate into communities where there are farms, especially those belonging to women.
“It is important and imperative that female parliamentarians in the regions come together and see how we can affect policy change,” she added.
The Forum of Women Parliamentarians is a unique entity that has for more than 30 years provided women MPs a global platform to input into international decision-making.
The first of its kind and a trailblazer on the issue of women’s political participation, the Forum meets at every IPU Assembly.
The Forum provides an opportunity for women MPs to learn about how other countries are addressing gender inequality.
Dzifa Gomashie is attending the meeting with Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.
Source: ghanaweb.com
