Women need to be more supportive of each other - Nana Konadu

Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has called on women in the country to be more supportive of each other in the fight for gender equality and women empowerment.

According to the former first lady, this will help bridge the gender gap and motivate the younger generation.

As the world continues to celebrate women, there have been debates about the enormous and incalculable contributions of women to the achievement of better livelihoods and more calls for parity and empowerment to enable women take up leadership roles in government and the society.

But speaking at this year’s “National Women’s Summit and Expo”, Mrs. Konadu Agyeman Rawlings argued that, seminars and talks won’t achieve much should women continue to undermine each other.

She noted that after years of struggling for equality and parity, women still stress for recognition because they have become competitive against each other, instead of supporting each other.

“We have to help each other to reach the top of the ladder. Each women pulling one or two women with her up the ladder should be our approach because we have tried everything. We are making the laws, we are empowering women but nothing seems to be working. We have to try this too. Help someone, help another woman. It’s okay to be competitive but why don’t we compete with the men, why do we just seem to be competing with only ourselves.”

On her part, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for UBA Ghana, Abiola Bawuah urged women to stop giving excuses and pull their weight when given responsibilities.

According to her, success can be achieved by determination and hard work which does not encourage excuses or mediocrity.

“Success starts from you, what you see and want can only be answered by you. Do you want to be average or you want to be super, once you know what you want, you have to put in the necessary work. As a woman, if you keep relying on wigs and high heels you won’t get there. Being a woman doesn’t also make you weak. You need to work hard.”

The National Women's Summit and Expo which was launched last year seeks to among other things bringing together both accomplished and young women who aspire to lead the corporate and business world.