In our part of the world, cooking and other household chores remain a preserve for women and girls. Young girls are made to accept and believe that cooking is a woman’s job.  This orientation has over the years led to gender stereotyped roles that define the roles of men and women and it has become a cultural and social norms.  Modern society has seen a significant change in gender roles. While many aspects of gender inequality have evolved, the change is still happening today, so it is essential to reorient ourselves on issues of gender equity.

As part of the 2019 International Women’s Day celebrations, the Youth Fellows of the UNFPA organised a cooking competition for boys in a fishing community “Chorkor” in Accra whilst the girls were made to play soccer. This was to ensure that some of these stereotypes are broken right in our schools and communities.

 During the competition the boys cooked a local dish from start to finish. This, they did with so much joy and passion. One of them, 12 years old, Samson Arhin remarked, “I always thought only my sister had to clean the house, but now I’ll help with the chores at home and cook as well.”

Cooking is so interesting and so much fun, I will try to cook from this day onwards, thanks UNFPA for the cooking experience, I will always remember this… says Oko, one of the contestants.

It was even more exciting when the girls took to the field to play soccer. Smartly dressed in their orange and white jerseys the girls played swiftly to the admiration of all present.

At the close of the match the team in white jersey won by two goals to one on penalty kicks.

It was so much fun playing and at the same time learning that boys should not hesitate to do the household chores whilst girls can equally venture into what would normally have been considered a preserve for boys.