Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has urged security services to factor gender differences into future recruitment processes following the stampede at El-Wak Stadium that claimed the lives of six young women and left several others injured.
The victims were among thousands of young Ghanaians who thronged the venue for the 2025/2026 Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) recruitment exercise.
The Minister noted that while both men and women participated in the exercise, women bore the brunt of the tragedy.
“You realise that most people were there, but the most affected were women. Even though we are all human beings, our biological makeups are different,” she explained.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Madam Lartey said the incident highlighted the need for security institutions to adopt a more gender-responsive approach when organising mass recruitment activities.
“I was telling the senior female officers that even in this day and age, with so much awareness of gender issues, we still face challenges during recruitment and employment,” she said.
She encouraged the military to learn from the incident and adjust their procedures to better protect applicants, particularly women.
“I was urging them that based on the experiences from this exercise, they should reduce the physical demands involved in military recruitment processes for upcoming exercises,” she added.
The Krowor Member of Parliament (MP) emphasised that gender considerations must be integrated into all national systems.
“It is about time that in every facet of our lives, we look at things through a gender lens,” she noted.
She stressed that recognising gender differences is not about inequality but about ensuring fairness and safety.
“Inasmuch as we want to say that everybody is the same, we must give gender consideration to women where it matters most,” she concluded.
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