A women’s rights activist has challenged the media to press for reforms to promote gender issues particularly related to the housing and land rights of women.

Madam Agnes Kabajuni of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) threw the challenge at a day’s national training workshop for the media on housing and lands rights of women organized by COHRE in partnership with Women Media and Change (WOMEC) in Accra.

Madam Kabajuni outlined issues involving inheritance, culture, divorce as well as HIV as areas that impacted on the housing rights of women and thus exposing these women and their children to the hazards associated with homeless and suitable shelter.

She said there is a link between women’s access to housing and land and other socio-economic issues. “Women’s fear of losing their shelter results in enduring domestic violence by partners or other relations”.

Ms Kabajuni added that rural-urban migration also contributes to lack of shelter. “These migrants, mostly women live under bad conditions for instance in slums and this can lead to rape and all forms of violence”.

Mrs. Charity Binka, the Executive Director of WOMEC urged the media not to take housing and land rights issues of women for granted. She said they should focus on these areas and take government on.

Mrs. Binka reiterated the vulnerability of women to HIV and other diseases when they are left to sleep on the streets. She lauded the effort of COHRE in taking up such an initiative of involving the media in women’s housing and land rights issues.

She said the workshop offers the media an opportunity to deliberate on the importance of the issue.

Mrs Binka said WOMEC is proud to be associated with the housing and land rights of women and would begin to focus not only on issues such as malaria but also on shelter for women.

Ms Sylvia Noabgesenu also from COHRE who spoke on false evictions of women cited examples of forced evictions as urban slum clearances, displacement during armed conflicts and evictions during large-scale development projects. She said they are prohibited under International law unless the eviction is the only feasible means to meet a legitimate aim.

Ms Noabgesenu said government must progressively realize the rights of women to housing which include laws and policies to improve access to land and housing.

She said government must also look at areas such as slum upgrading, forced evictions and the provision of basic services with particular attention to women.