As soon as I came into the office last Thursday morning, my coworker said, “I’m leaving and you’re coming with me!” I had absolutely no idea where I was going but I was excited to find out. About 30 minutes later, my coworker and I arrived at a conference called World Population Day 2019–an international conference on reproductive health and gender equality for sustainable development. As a woman and gender studies minor, I was very excited that I had the ability to hear various views of reproductive health rights for women from all the way across the world.
Students of all ages attended the event, holding up signs advocating gender equality and reproductive health rights for all people, especially women. I did not expect to see so many young children to attend the event, but I think it’s important they are being educated at such a young age in order to prevent teen pregnancy in Ghana. Ghana’s high teen pregnancy rate was a common theme throughout the conference continuously referring to how common it is to see a pregnant teen in Accra. A representative for Marie Slopes International stated that so many women become pregnant at such a young age not due to their own choice but lack of education of reproductive health, furthering the importance of education for young people. Since 2001, there has been decreasing funding for reproductive health rights in Ghana.
“When a woman can take control of her fertility, she can take control of her life.”
Opportunity for reproductive health education is essential to gender equality not only in Ghana but everywhere according to the Parliamentary Caucus on Population and Development at the conference. Access to reproductive health ensures sustainable development and is essential to level the playing field for men and women. All women should have reproductive health rights regardless of their particular circumstances.
Because of Ghana’s high religious presence, I found surprising that the representative from the Christian Council of Ghana was supportive in encouraging reproductive health rights and use of contraceptives for women. I assumed they would encourage women to wait for marriage to have sex. However, they advocated for education for young women rather than frowning upon young pregnant women who have had premarital sex. Many (if not most) of the speakers were men, which I definitely was not expecting. The male speakers advocated for reproductive health rights for women specifically. The mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, promoted women’s empowerment and gender equality throughout his speech. He focused on the idea that Ghanaian men specifically should treat women with respect and give them the power to make decisions as well. I am so thankful I was able to experience a conference about a topic I’m passionate about on the other side of the world.