The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) on Friday held a competitive debate between Labone and Accra High Senior High School as part of activities to commemorate the International Women’s Day (IWD).

The debate which lasted about two hours on the motion ‘Behind every successful woman, there is a man’, saw the debaters argue their points passionately on the need for men and women and boys and girls, to support each other for national growth.

Labone Senior High School won the debate with 156 points against 120 points pulled by Accra High Senior High School.

The IWD slated for March 8 each year presents an opportunity for the world to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women across the globe.

This year’s celebration is on the theme “Transforming lives of rural women in line with the Sustainable Development Goals’

Mrs Comfort Asare, Director for the Department of Gender at the MGCSP, explained that the debate was necessitated by the need to engage the youth in critical thinking.

She advised boys to respect girls and not regard them as second class citizens but as useful vessels saying, ‘we are partners and we work together, no sex is more important that the other.’

Mrs Asare urged the boys and girls to take up the challenge of respecting each other’s rights.

The Executive Director for Insight Foundation Ghana and judge for the debate, Mrs Christiana Cockel expressed contentment about how the presentations made by the two schools were well-researched and apt.

She commended the debaters for arguing on sound points and urged them to be ambassadors of the ‘He for She campaign’.