Invest in research to remove low representation barriers - Women groups urged
Women-based advocacy groups in the country have been urged to significantly invest in research to remove barriers hindering the low representation of women in high decision-making positions.
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This is part of efforts to breaking down barriers and fostering greater gender diversity in leadership roles in the country.
Addressing participants in the maiden breakfast meeting of the Ghana Chapter of the African Women’s Leaders Network (AWLN) in Accra, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Olivia Anku Tsede, indicated that there was a concentration of women in lower-level decision-making roles as compared to managerial positions.
Thus, it was important to adequately research to identify the specific barriers that hinder women from taking up roles in top managerial positions in the society and find practical solutions that would ensure that they were fairly represented in all sectors of the economy.
“Without identifying what barriers these are it would be difficult to deal with them to ensure that there is a lot more representation of women in such sectors especially in top management levels,” Mrs Tsede emphasised.
She further called for training and education to help understand the past experiences to find solutions to these pertaining problems.
Meeting
The meeting brought together women from various women-based advocacy groups and organisations across the country to dialogue and share ideas on practical ways to solve the challenges most faced in the society.
The Chairperson of the Ghana Chapter of AWLN, Dr Charity Binka, indicated that it was important for the voices of women to be heard within the country and beyond.
She said the representation of women in leadership in the country was not encouraging and gave an assurance that the group would work on educating and supporting women especially in the rural areas to take up positions.
Dr Binka also stated that AWLN was working to ensure that the affirmative action bill was passed to promote the high representation of women in all spheres of the economy.
Gender Parity
The Presidential Advisor on Gender and Development, Angela Asante, commended AWLN for the technical work they embarked on as she described it as critical for women empowerment in the society and the continent as a whole.
She called on women to do well to support and collaborate with other women to build a strong force resilient of any type of violence whether institutional or cultural.