Ghana chapter of Women in Aviation International inaugurated
Over the past few years, women in Ghana have braced themselves up to occupy roles that had previously been the preserve of men in the aviation industry.
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Today, in Ghana, there are women air traffic controllers, pilots, engineers, cabin attendants, aircraft marshallers, firefighters, project engineers, technicians among many others in the industry.
The objective
It is against this background that the Ghana Airports Ladies Club and the Ghana Civil Ladies Association have championed the cause for Ghana to affiliate with the Women in Aviation International (WAI), a non-profit organisation that seeks to encourage the advancement of women in all aviation career fields and interests.
At a ceremony to inaugurate the Ghana chapter of the WAI in Accra last Friday, the President, Mrs Juliet Aboagye–Wiafe, said WAI was dedicated to providing networking, education, mentoring and scholarship opportunities for women (and men) who were striving for challenging and fulfilling careers in the aviation and aerospace industries.
The membership includes astronauts, pilots, concessionaries, maintenance technicians, air traffic controllers, engineers, educators, aircraft marshallers, firefighters, cabin crew, airport managers, among others.
Reaching out to young girls
According to Mrs Aboagye–Wiafe, the organisation seeks to provide resources to assist women in aviation and to encourage young women to consider aviation as a career.
In addition, she said, WAI promotes public understanding of the accomplishments and contributions of women in aviation, while offering educational outreach programmes to educators, aviation industry members and young people nationally and internationally.
As part of their activities, she said the organisation would reach out to the young generation to explore the various opportunities and professions and whip up interest in the aviation industry, especially for the young girls.
Mrs Aboagye–Wiafe mentioned that Ghana was the 5th African country to attain the WAI chapter after Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya and Cameroon.
“Women represent positivity”
In her address, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs Joyce A.B. Mogtari, said women made up more than half of the population in Ghana and even in the world, hence development could not go on without their effort, adding that women all over the world had come to represent positivity in the face of several responsibilities.
Therefore, she commended the aviation women for taking such a great step to also educate and encourage young girls to enter the industry and also for making strides in the industry over the years.
The Managing Director, Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Mr Charles Kwame Asare, in his remarks, made reference to Margaret Thatcher’s famous quote, “if you want something, ask a man and if you want something done ask a woman.”
He indicated that the GACL wanted to transform the aviation industry, and the vision was to position Ghana as an aviation hub in the African sub-region, and women were the best to drive that agenda.
Therefore, he said, the launch of the organisation was timely to enhance the skills and ability of the women to provide improved services to the company.