This year’s Winnie’s Women World Summit ends in Kumasi

This year’s Winnie’s Women World (W3) Summit organised by W3, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to women’s empowerment, has been held in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on the theme: ‘Raising future leader Impacting the next generation.’

The W3 Summit is an annual assembly of distinguished women who are making an impact in various fields to inspire  younger ones.

Addressing the summit, a former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, called for the inclusion of laws on gender and women empowerment into the country’s educational curriculum.

That, she said, would help educate girls and boys on gender and women empowerment and the laws that backed them and also make them aware of their rights.

Mrs Agyeman-Rawlings also appealed to the media, particularly the television stations, to devote more time to educate the public on gender issues rather than telecasting Mexican telenovelas.

Ghana’s progress

According to her, even though Ghana had made some progress in women empowerment, a lot still remained to be done to bridge the gender gap and reach the level where men and women would be treated equal.

She said the country had enough laws on gender but they had remained in the statute books and were not being fully implemented.

She advised gender activists to remain focused and work hard to achieve their goals, irrespective of the derogatory comments and insinuations they may receive from the public.

First Female Brigadier

The first female Brigadier General in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Brig. Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, also encouraged women to make conscious efforts to achieve their goals in life, irrespective of the challenges that might confront them.

Narrating her time at the military academy, she said it was determination that helped her to go through the training successfully, adding that “you just obey the rules and learn as you go along.”

She advised the youth, especially the ladies, to be focused in all their endeavours.

Executive Director

The Executive Director of W3, Miss Winnifred Selby, said the objective of the W3 Summit was to empower young girls to break the cultural limitations in order to achieve their goals.

She said the organisation also sought to create employment opportunities for unemployed women, thereby raising them to be economically independent.

She appealed to unemployed women to make conscious efforts to acquire skills training to make them economically independent, rather than depending on men for their livelihood.