NDC urges women to avail themselves for leadership roles

The Women's Wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has charged women in the country to be confident and avail themselves for leadership positions.

It also urged the Government to provide support to women and empower them to ensure they succeeded in that regard.

“The women of Ghana deserve better, and upon us rest the responsibility to ensure that they achieve their goals to become upright, respected, respectable and useful citizens for this dear nation of ours,” Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw, the National Women's Organiser of NDC, said.

Speaking at a news conference to mark the 2021 International Women's Day in Accra, she said over the past decade, women had had to bear the brunt of the hardship of inequalities and economic challenges that had characterised daily life in the country.

Dr Bisiw explained that even though much progress had been made in changing the circumstances of many women in the country, more needed to be done if the country was to achieve gender equality by 2030.

"As a country, we have done very well in changing the circumstances of many of our women folk for the better, but we need to do far more," she added.

Ghana, on Monday, March 8, joined the rest of the world to mark this year's International Women's Day to celebrate women's achievements as well as raise awareness about women's equality.

This year's event was marked on the theme: "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID 19 World."

According to the United Nations, 2.7 billion women had been kept from accessing the same choice of jobs as men due to legal restrictions.

It further noted that less than 25 per cent of parliamentarians were women as of 2019, while one in three currently experience gender-based violence.

Dr Bisiw touted some achievements chalked by the Party in advancing women's rights, and reaffirmed its commitment to championing the international women agenda and the development of women in Ghana.

She said the appointment of Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as the running mate for the Party’s Flagbearer in the 2020 presidential election depicted the NDC's commitment to giving women the leadership role, both at the party and national levels.

"The NDC has placed women at the highest point of decision making ever since we began our democratic governance system,” she said.

“We appointed the first female Speaker of Parliament, first female Attorney General, first female Chairperson of the Council of State, first female Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, first female Foreign Affairs Minister and first female running mate of a top political party.”

Dr Bisiw called on government to address the violence that marred the 2020 general election, which led to the death of eight people, bringing untold hardship to families, particularly women, who lost their husbands through it.

She urged the Government to develop an educational campaign to educate women on the on-going COVID-19 vaccination to enable them to make informed decisions.

Dr Bisiw congratulated Madam Harris Kamara, the first female Vice President of the United States of America, and Mrs Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala, Chief Executive Officer of the World Trade Organisation, and all women worldwide for their immense contributions to development.