President Mahama Rallies Support For Women at Global Stage

The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama has called on world leaders to uphold the Beijing declaration and prioritize the gender equality and women’s empowerment.

According to the Ghanaian leader, gender equality goes beyond justice for women but a catalyst for economic development.

President Mahama was speaking at the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women in Beijing, China on Monday.

He also called on world leaders to give opportunities to women in leadership roles.

Below is the full statement of the President of Ghana:

Thank you very much, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China: Madam Peng, my
colleagues, Heads of State and Your Excellencies.

I wish to extend to you warm greetings from the government and people of Ghana as we gather
for this important Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women.

This meeting presents an invaluable opportunity to reaffirm our shared commitment to
advancing the rights of women and girls worldwide and to assess the progress that we’ve made
under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Thirty years on, the promise of Beijing still endures, but it calls for renewed urgency and purpose.

The Beijing Declaration was never just a statement of intent; it was a moral covenant.

It was a recognition that no nation can truly progress if half of its population is left behind.

Yet, as we review its implementation, persistent gaps and structural barriers continue to slow our collective march toward equality. We must therefore act with even greater resolve and
innovation.

Mr President, my country, Ghana, remains steadfast in its pursuit of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Under my leadership and in my capacity as the African Union Champion for Gender and
Women’s Empowerment, the Government of Ghana has taken decisive steps to mainstream
gender across its na^onal development policies.

We have achieved historic milestones, including the election of Ghana’s first female Vice
President and the unprecedented appointment of women to leadership positions in
government, the judiciary, the security services, and key national institutions.

These are not symbolic gestures; they are a deliberate affirmation that women deserve a seat
at the highest levels of decision-making. And I am confident that, in the very near future, our
women will break the glass ceiling and that a woman will be president of the Republic of Ghana.

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, We’ve achieved gender parity in school enrollment. Girls are going to school and staying in school. Our commitment is further demonstrated by robust institutional reforms and legal
frameworks that are designed to protect the rights of women and girls.

We have strengthened critical agencies, including the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social
Protection, the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, the
Domestic Violence Secretariat, and the Specialised Domestic Violence Courts.

Sustained budgetary allocations have improved their capacity to deliver justice, protection, and social support to survivors of gender-based violence.

We have also expanded many social protection programmes that directly benefit women and
girls. Among these are:

§ The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) initiative. As part of this
initiative, we target female-headed households.

§ The Ghana School Feeding Programme, which sources food locally and improves
nutrition and school retention, especially for girls.

§ A policy that reserves 50% of the microfinance and small loan funding for women entrepreneurs.

§ Nationwide distribution of free sanitary pads for schoolgirls to address their menstrual
health and prevent absenteeism from school.

§ Free tertiary education for persons with disability, especially women, and the No Academic Fee Policy for first-year tertiary students.

§ The Ghana Medical Care Trust Fund, which is soon to start, will also ensure equitable access to treatment for non-communicable diseases, especially for vulnerable groups.

Mr President, these interventions are anchored in a strong legal and policy framework, and we have enacted and revised a suite of key instruments, including:

§ The Revised National Gender Policy (2025–2034).

§ The Ghana National Social Protection Act.

§ The Domestic Violence Act (2007).

§ The Human Trafficking Act (2005).

§ The Justice for Children Policy,
Also, Ghana’s Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024 (Act 1121), was recently passed,
mandating a minimum of 30% female representation in public appointments by the end of
2026, 35% by 2028, and 50% by 2030.

To further empower women economically, Ghana is establishing a Women’s Development Bank to provide low-interest loans, financial literacy, training, and business development support to our women entrepreneurs.

This initiative aims to promote financial inclusion and
create more opportunities for women across all sectors of our economy.

The global order is changing rapidly, threatening to reverse the gains made under the Millennium Development Goals and the ongoing Sustainable Development Goals.

The global multilateral order and our rules-based trading systems are being jettisoned, giving
way to more unilateral actions by some global players. In this unpredictable environment, we
need to focus on safeguarding the gains made by our women and other vulnerable groups since the Beijing conference thirty years ago.

The African woman is particularly vulnerable, and I wish to use this platform to call on my colleague African leaders to focus on the welfare and empowerment of our women.

Gender equality is more than a matter of justice; it is a catalyst for sustainable development.

When women succeed, families thrive, communities become stronger, and nations progress.

Our experience in Ghana demonstrates that investing in women produces tangible benefits in productivity, innovation, and social cohesion.

As we look to Beijing +30, I call on all governments and partners to move beyond platitudes and commit towards transformative action.

Let us ensure that this milestone becomes a turning point—one that accelerates the realisation of gender equality and women’s
empowerment all over the world.

Together, we can make the next decade one of bold progress bbeand shared prosperity for
women and girls worldwide.

I appreciate your kind attention