She is now the UN Climate Champion’s Special Advisor for Africa.

But in an interview with the BBC Focus on Africa podcast, she has spoken about the sexual harassment and discrimination faced by women at the top of politics.

Looking back at her 19 months in the job she spoke about how she “survived the environment”.

“When you’re a young woman in such a space there are a lot of innuendos – how you got the job – but even those who you work with, fighting off sexual advances or even harassment in some cases.

“There was a severe case that happened and I reported it to my principals and there was action,” she told the BBC’s Audrey Brown without going into more detail.

“What surprised me was that they thought it was an isolated case, which it wasn’t. They quickly learnt that it wasn’t an isolated case and so it was taken care of.”

She added that as a result she felt empowered to bring bills to parliament that dealt with the protection of women and children.

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As a legal practitioner, I was asked for advice on how to tackle a case of sexual harassment. The request came from a friend who, after five (5) years of unemployment, finally got a job. For the purpose of this article, let us name my friend ‘Mary’.

The sexual harassment Mary suffered started with a simple tap on her buttocks by her boss. This then scaled up to inappropriate gestures and finally to the demand for sex. When Mary could not take it any longer, she rebelled. Her boss did not take Mary’s rebellion lightly. He in turn gave her two options; to give in to his demand or find a job elsewhere.

After Mary reported her ordeal to me, I first looked up some legislation on the topic. However, before pointing out what the law says on sexual harassment, it is worth mentioning that, Mary is entitled to seek remedy internally from the company she works with. She can do so by lodging a complaint with the Human Resources department of her company.

Most companies have ‘anti-sexual harassment policies’ and such policies are safeguards for the staff. A victim of sexual harassment can trigger the provision(s) of the company’s anti-sexual harassment policy (if there is one in place).

Other avenues available to Mary can be found in the provisions of theLabour Act. Section 15(b) of Act 651 provides that a contract of employment may be terminated by the worker on grounds of sexual harassment. After the said termination, Section 18 affords the employee to claim all outstanding benefits she is entitled to. In simple terms, Mary may decide to opt out of her job and claim any benefit she is entitled to (I am not sure Mary will want to take this option).

Furthermore, Section 63 of Act 651 empowers an employee who is faced with sexual harassment to report to her employer. The said employer is required to take reasonable steps regarding the complaint of sexual harassment.

The provisions stated above are safety netsavailable toMary if her company is without an anti-sexual harassment policy. Under the said sections, her boss’ employment can be terminated by the company if he is found guilty of sexually harassing her.

Mary can also trigger the option available under Chapter 5 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Chapter 5 of the Constitution has provisions on the protection of “Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms”. Gender discrimination is frowned upon by Chapter 5 of the Constitution and sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination. To that extent, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is clothed with jurisdiction to hear complaints on gender discrimination (and by implication, sexual harassment). 

A case in point is when Miss Augustina Salome Tettey dragged her employer to CHRAJ. She was an employee of Fan Airways, a company owned by Professor Frank AwukuNorvor. The Professor was the Managing Director (MD) of Fan Airways.

Miss Augustina made a complaint to CHRAJ that her MD had sexually harassed her and when she rebuffed his attempts she was dismissed from her employment. She led evidence to the effect that her MD started his sexual harassment by making amorous proposals to her in the form of complimentary remarks about her bodily features and appearance. He even told her on several occasions that “you are beautiful, you are the most beautiful girl in the office . . .” Furthermore, he attempted on several occasions to force a kiss on her, hug her, hold her hand or go round and hold her from behind.

CHRAJ after considering the evidence before it found her complaint to be justified. Professor Frank was ordered by CHRAJ to cease all acts of sexual harassment against Miss Augustina and awarded her Five Million old Ghana Cedis (GH¢5,000,000.00) as damages for injury to her dignity and self-respect. (N.B: This case was decided in 2001 hence the amount quoted in old Ghana Cedis)

Aside the civil options above, there is also a criminal option available to Mary. Chapter Six, Part Two of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) makes provision for Sexual Offences. For the purpose of this article, Section 103 which provides on ‘Indecent Assault’ will be brought to the fore.   

The said Section states as follows:

“A person commits the criminal offence of indecent assault if, without the consent of the other person that person,

1. Forcibly makes a sexual bodily contact with the other person, or
2. Sexually violates the body of the other person,

in a manner not amounting to carnal knowledge or unnatural carnal knowledge.”

From the foregoing, it goes without mention that Mary can assert her right by lodging a complaint of indecent against her boss, with the Police. Her boss will then be investigated and tried in a Court of competent jurisdiction. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of three (3) years imprisonment.

Above are the options available to persons who are in the shoes of Mary. I would end by encouraging persons who are sexually harassed at the workplace to assert their rights. Also, persons who knowingly harass their workplace colleagues sexually should be made to face the full rigors of the law. Lastly, Human Resources practitioners should endeavour to include an anti-sexual harassment policy in the conditions of service of their respective companies.

The writer is a Lawyer and Lecturer with Ghana’s foremost media school (GH Media School).

Collins Badu Agyemang, a lecturer at the Psychology Department of the University of Ghana, is of the view that provocative and seductive dressing of some female students contribute to sexual harassment and misconduct in society.

To Dr Agyeman, “there is the issue of power play in all sectors of society and if you don’t take care, you will fall prey to the predator; so this makes the issue of sexual harassment a global menace and not a tertiary institution issue.”

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Speaking at a Seminar Series organised by the University of Ghana School of Pharmacy titled ‘Sexual Harassment: A Bitter Pill to Swallow?’ Dr Agyeman said hostile environments contribute to sexual misconduct and harassment.

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“Dressing styles on campuses are ‘too provocative’ and lecturers suffer unfairly due to poor costume decisions by some students,” he said.

The seminar on sexual harassment follows the airing of ‘BBC’s Sex for Grades’ documentary in universities in West Africa which implicated two lecturers at the University of Ghana and two others at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Source: Adomonline.com | Gertrude Otchere

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu, has denied claims that he sexually harassed Andrea Pizziconi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Africa Integras.

According to him, Miss Pizziconi is just a desperate, frustrated and a bitter woman who could not stomach the fact that the University Council terminated her building project.

“This woman is telling lies. Her claims are extremely big joke. Ever since my mother gave birth to me, I have not heard such a big joke in my entire life. I want the public to ignore that. Why would I even harass her sexually?

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“If she has been able to come up with such a lie then this woman does not have the fear of God in her. May God forgive her. I think this publication is just coming from a desperate, bitter and frustrated woman,” he told Accra based Okay FM, monitored by Adomonline.com.

Miss Pizziconi accused Prof Oduro-Owusu of sexually harassing her in a recent tweet.

In a tweet, she alleged that the ‘Sex for Grade’ investigative piece that indicted some lecturers at the University of Ghana resonates deeply with her.

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But, Prof Oduro-Owusu noted that the contract which was to see the building of academic facility for the four colleges and a hostel for the medical school was terminated by the Council because the conditions were unfavorable.

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“She wanted to invest in 64 million dollars building project to build academic facility for the four colleges and a medical school but the conditions she gave the school were too high which the school could have gone bankrupt and so the Council which I head terminated the project in November and that is the reason for her baseless accusation against me,” he said.

To him, she only wanted to take advantage of the ‘Sex for Grades’ matter just to destroy his reputation but it won’t work.

Listen to audio above:

Source: Adomonline.com | Dorcas Abedu-Kennedy

The forum, dubbed “Balance in newsrooms: balance in news coverage; the role of media organisations in addressing gender disparities”, was organised by Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA), a non-governmental organisation that projects women in media.

According to the women, it was becoming difficult to report issues of sexual harassment as it was described as the “newsroom culture” and the victim had no one to report to.

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Policies to work and raise family

The speakers, who were news anchors, presenters, journalists and editors, also called on media managers to create policies that would allow women balance their job while raising families.

According to the women, there were no “support systems” in the newsroom to allow women take on challenging roles, meet deadlines and also raise families. As such those who were unable to do all these ended up leaving the job to concentrate on raising families.

Report sexual harassment

A broadcast journalist at Citi FM, Nana Ama Agyeman Asante, encouraged women to report acts of sexual harassment in the newsroom no matter the challenges.

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She also urged managers to see sexual harassment as a serious offence and as such, implement the needed punishment.

To achieve balance in the newsroom, she explained that there was the need to treat both sexes equally and encourage mentorship, especially for the young ones.

Don’t wait for HR policies on sexual harassment

An international journalist and trainer in the United States of America, Ms Sarah Wachter, urged women not to wait for human resource policies before voicing issues on harassment as they could write about it.

Using the popular social media hashtag “me too” movement as an example, she said a lot of women in the US were able to bring perpetrators to book simply by using the hashtag on the Internet.

She said “sexual harassment is on check in the US newsrooms. High-profile men in the newsroom have lost their jobs through the movement. The movement took place because women are not heard by police, judges and others”.

The “me too” movement, which went viral in October 2017, is a campaign against sexual harassment and sexual assault, especially at the workplace.

Support systems

An editor at Multimedia, Ms Gladys Afia Pokua Arthur, urged media managers to support women on the job to enable them to take up challenging roles.

“Women balance family with newsroom deadlines. There is no support system so some end up leaving the job. How are we also making it possible for women with disability to be included in the media? The support system is not there,” she added.

Change situations in the newsroom

Addressing the forum, the Chief Executive Officer of Inspire Africa Consult, Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, urged media managers to include persons with disability in their staff as some of them had proven to join the media but the system was unfavourable to them.

“We need to create space for the disabled, we need to change situations in the newsroom, we need to fill positions with men with progressive and diverse views, as well as with women who merit to hold the door open for other women,” she said.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

Currently threatening to sue an unnamed hotel in Ikeji area of the state, she revealed that she was inappropriately touched by a guy while they were inside the swimming pool, on Saturday.

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An eyewitness at the said party revealed that the victim told her harasser she didn’t like what he did and went further to berate him.

The young man who would have none of the insults and embarrassment got angry and replied her immediately with about 6 slaps. Undeterred, the victim continued berating him, while he went on with the assault.

The fracas led to the intervention of the security guards who stepped in to calm her down, but she painfully continued with the tirade, while the harasser quickly left the party.

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She was eventually kicked out of the hotel, in just her bikini, to stop her from disturbing others who were evidently having a great time.

She has now vowed to take legal action against the organizers as well as the hotel.

Former Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has revealed he has been a victim of sexual harassments on many occasions.

Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Tuesday, the NDC man said male victims of sexual harassments are suffering in silence due to the stigma that may follow when they report.

READ ALSO: Female students harass me – Central University lecturer reveals [Audio]

He indicated that even though women suffer most, sexual harassment also extends to men.

Allotey Jacobs said the experience made him a “Casanova” until he accepted Christ as his lord and personal saviour.

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“At that time I was a Casanova; I ate everything except shoe and socks but Christianity has changed me,” he joked.

The former NDC Central Regional Chairman noted that sexual harassment is an abhorrent act that should be directly challenged and fought at every opportunity.

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Allotey Jacobs appealed for culprits to be named and shamed to serve as a deterrent to others.

She said the media does not talk about the issue even though they appear aware of the situation.

“Sexual harassment is rife in most media houses but many do not talk about it,” she told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Wednesday.

This is the first time any individual in public office is making such an allegation against the Ghanaian media.

Meanwhile, the Ablekuma West MP whose ministry is on a crusade to shut down radio stations who have failed to renew their operating license says the move is not to target the media.

“The law ought to be no respecter of persons. No one should think they are above the law. When the NCA wanted to embark on this action, they spoke to me about it and I thought it was a good idea. Closing down the media houses that have not renewed their licences is as a result of applying our laws.

“Why would you want to operate illegally for all these years if you don’t have money to pay for your license? It takes the political will to implement tough decisions,” she noted.

She added that the affected media houses must be blamed for the situation they find themselves in.

“The media houses who chose not to work within the confines of the laws should be blamed. Why won’t the media fight against other media houses who are not doing the right thing?”

She advised journalists affected by the decision to seek redress with their employers.

“I will urge them to speak with their owners to do the needful so they don’t lose their jobs. The media plays a vital role in helping all of us change our orientations and mindsets”.