Memorial hosts women's rights advocate from Ghana
The Sexual Harassment Office is pleased to join the Memorial chapter of Engineers Without Borders in hosting Ama Asubonteng, a women's rights advocate and sexual violence monitor from Ghana.
The Sexual Harassment Office is pleased to join the Memorial chapter of Engineers Without Borders in hosting Ama Asubonteng, a women's rights advocate and sexual violence monitor from Ghana.
Ms. Asubonteng is a gender activist engaged in promoting the rights of women and children in Ghana. While Ms. Asubonteng's passion for gender equality spans across many fields, her work currently focuses on tackling school-based sexual violence in her country.
Ms. Asubonteng works with the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre and social enterprise Voto Mobile to provide education on sexual health and rights and counselling to victims of sexual assault. While sexual violence in Ghana remains a highly taboo subject, Ms. Asubonteng's work is paving the way to a better understanding of the magnitude of sexual violence incidents taking place across the country.
Ms. Asubonteng has travelled to various parts of Canada to connect with other professionals doing similar work and learn about sexual violence in Canada. One of her goals was to learn about sexual violence amongst Canadian youth.
In January 2017, Memorial's Sexual Harassment Advisor, Ms. Rhonda Shortall, met with Ms. Asubonteng to discuss the services of the Sexual Harassment Office and provide insight into the reporting of sexual harassment and sexual assault at Memorial and the resources available at the university. This experience has offered a unique opportunity for a mutually beneficial connection and exchange of knowledge from a global perspective. The collaborative sharing of ideas to combat sexual violence is extremely important and beneficial as we work towards a cultural shift of a shared responsibility for preventing and mitigating sexual violence. A big thank you to Ms. Asubonteng, the Kumvana Program and Memorial's chapter of Engineers Without Borders for this opportunity!