‘Education should not deter women from leading communities’
The Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre (GSHRDC), a gender based non-governmental organisation, has advised women not to let their education levels deter them from leading their communities.
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The centre has observed that although lots of women have what it takes to be leaders, many of them failed to take up the challenge because of their low level of education.
Sensitisation programme
Addressing the people of Agogoso in the Atwima Mponua District during a voter sensitisation programme, Mrs Esther Darko Mensah, a Project Officer with the GSHRDC, said one did not need to be educated to a very high level to stand for district assembly elections.
While admitting that education would make them better leaders, she urged the women to take advantage of opportunities, particularly at the community level, to provide the necessary leadership that would bring development to their people.
Mrs Darko Mensah said what was required was for one to be of sound mind and good moral values. Selflessness is also key, as the job required lots of sacrifices.
According to her, many women possess these values, which should be enough for them to make themselves available to be elected assembly members or unit committee members.
Case for women
The sensitisation programme was to educate the communities on the upcoming District Level Elections and to also canvass for support for female candidates.
Mrs Darko-Mensah appealed to the electorate not to discriminate against the female candidates but to give them the necessary support.
She asked the communities not to vote for candidates based on their political affiliation but to consider their suitability for the position.
"Ideally, we would have wished that you vote for all the female candidates so as to increase the number of women at the district assemblies and politics in general," she stated.
Support for women
The centre, in partnership with WOMANKIND, a UK based NGO under a project called Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women (FLOW), is supporting female candidates in three districts in the country, namely Ada East, Atwima Mponua and Wenchi Municipality through capacity building and leadership skills training.
The centre is also supporting the candidates with T-shirts, campaign posters and airtime on some local radio stations for the candidates to broadcast their campaign messages.
The project seeks to raise awareness of the importance of women's participation in governance, particularly at the district level.
It is also to provide voter education for community members and to mobilise support for female aspirants in the September 1, 2015 district assembly election.
The centre is supporting a total of 36 aspiring assembly and unit committee members in the Atwima Mponua District.
Rejected ballots
The District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Nana Agyemang Gyasi, took the participants through the proper way of voting and advised them to ensure that they thumbprint their preferred candidates in the box provided so as to reduce the number of rejected ballots.
He said even though the commission had been educating the citizens on the proper way of voting, the number of rejected ballots kept on increasing in every elections.
He advised the electorate to take their time to do the proper thing instead of rushing, only for their efforts to be in vain.
