Newmont Akyem inaugurates Women and Allies Network

New Abirem (E/R), March 22 GNA – The Newmont Akyem Mines, has inaugurated the Women and Allies Network, an all-female group that focuses on promoting gender parity and the cause of women working in the Newmont Gold mining sites and other mining communities.

The group, a component of the women business resource subsidiary within Newmont mining sites, seeks to create a common platform to empower, inspire as well as motivate women working in the Newmont mining sites and other mining communities to enable them utilize opportunities and take up more challenging roles in the mining fields.

Ms Esther Aboagye, leader of the group at an inaugural ceremony at New Abirem in the Eastern Region, indicated that the group would advocate for women’s rights within the mining industry and also organize activities to build their capacities.

The occasion was also used to educate the women on cervical cancers.

Mrs Georgette Sakyi-Addo, Founder of Women in Mining Ghana, encouraged the women to upgrade themselves to enable them take up responsibilities at the mining site to reduce the gender disparity in the extractive sector.

She noted that, the women needed to build their capacities and upgrade themselves to earn the requisite qualification to work at a large scale mining site, since that required in-depth knowledge and experience to be able to write reports on frequent basis.

Mrs Sakyi-Addo, advised the women to show commitment and seriousness towards their work and desist from using their domestic multiple roles as excuses for not meeting standards at the work place.

Dr Charles K. Takyi, Obstetrician-Gynaecologist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, who gave a health talk on cervical cancer urged government to develop a system, where text messages, emails and alerts would be sent to the women to serve as a reminder for constant check-ups on their cancer statuses.

He also called for a policy to include cancer screening in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Dr Takyi advised the general public to cultivate a constant habit of medical check-ups at least once in two years to help diagnose a problem rather than wait for the problem to develop into cancer before seeking medical attention.

Source: GNA