The origin of Mother's Day dates back to the era of the ancient Greek and Romans.

The history of Mothers' Day can also be traced to the United Kingdom and the United States of America. However, in mod­ern times, many countries the world over, have joined in this celebration including Ghana - where it is seen to be a necessary evil.

In Ghana and many other countries, Moth­ers' Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, each year, though there may be some variation of dates in some countries.

Mothers' Day is celebrated to honour all mothers and also to express gratitude for what they have gone through socialising their children (not only biological mothers, but other females who have also brought up children).

The day in Ghana is marked with a variety of events not excluding picnics, radio and television programmes, church services, parties, etc. - all in honouring mothers.

As we celebrate the day in Ghana, the multi-million dollar question is, "Which mothers are we celebrating?" Is it the woman who single-handedly raises a child, the woman who has walked out of her matrimonial home because of petty quarrels, the adolescent girl who has become a teenage mother, the woman who has snatched someone's husband, the porter (Kayayo), the female sex worker, a relative mother, a mother mentor, a spiritual mother or a biological mother?

In Ghana, the fact remains that the woman faces many challenges such as sexual abuse of all forms, domestic violence, discrimination of all kinds and at different levels, gender imbalance and inequality, etc.

Socio-cultural beliefs and practices in Ghana such as witch camps and female genital mutilation (clitori­dectomy) also deepen the woes of women.

Women advocates and institutions, civil society and the government should use this day to evaluate the work they have done so far in addressing or solving problems of women - giving facts and figures.

Although over the years, some effort has been made towards ensuring the empowerment of women, the results have not yielded much to give them equal opportunities to contribute fully to national develop­ment.

The way forward is to tackle this problem at the grassroot. There is a need to embark on liberation of women; where the girl child should be given free, com­pulsory education from the basic to the tertiary level. Adult mothers and adult females who are school drop­outs should be encouraged to enroll into adult edu­cational institutions to acquire some form of educa­tion at a subsidy.

To all mothers and women who have in diverse ways contributed to shaping the lives of children, "Ayekoo", more grease to your elbows and continue the good work. God richly bless you all.


Credit: Isaac Vanderpuye
Source: The Spectator