Women urged to avail themselves of leadership positions: Times celebrates Women’s Day
The Managing Director of New Times Corporation (NTC), publishers of Ghanaian Times, Martin Adu-Owusu, has encouraged women to avail themselves of leadership positions and to "stand out to be counted”.
“You cannot be counted while sitting when others are standing. Push yourselves to the highest limit and strive to leave an imprint in the annals of your organisation for posterity," Mr Adu-Owusu said this during the commemoration of the 2022 International Women’s Day by the Times Ladies Association.
Advertisement
International Women’s Day is marked on March 8 every year to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women globally.
This year’s day was christened: “Break the Bias”.
The event by the Times ladies was the first of its kind by the corporation, and was dubbed: “Equity Today and Sustainability Tomorrow”.
Commitment
Mr Adu-Owusu said the NTC was an equal opportunity employment-creation organisation that understood the quality delivery of women, and continued to promote and support them.
He said the company was committed to help women to have fulfilling employment paths and provide the needed environment for them to realise their full potentials.
He assured women employees of the corporation of the resolve by the management to give them the room to expose and exhibit their potentials.
President of the Times Ladies Association, Mrs Georgina N. M. Quaittoo, said women were unique and possessed special talents, abilities and intelligence, which they had failed to tap into to harness their potentials.
She said although some countries had made tremendous progress driving towards gender parity in some areas, gender inequality in the workplace remained high in most places, and there were still biases against women needing to be removed.
She urged men to give women the necessary support for the sustainable development of society.
More women
The Women’s Chairperson of the Accra Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), Ghana, Mrs Anita Nyarko-Yirenkyi, commended the staff of NTC, especially the women, for their selfless contribution towards the progress of the corporation.
She said women in both the formal and informal sectors had over the years contributed their quota to the socio-economic development of the country, yet they continued to face negative situations such as inequality and stereotyping which undermined their development.
The 2021 Population and Housing Census established that women constituted 50.7 per cent of the total population of 30.8 million of the country.
“The statistic shows that women are more than the men in the country. Women must, therefore, be supported to contribute their quota in the development of our country,” Mrs Nyarko-Yirenkyi said.
She appealed to Parliament, through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to expedite action to ensure the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into law to promote the interest of women.
She also called on women’s groups and civil society organisations to continue their advocacy to ensure there was equity and gender balance at all levels of society.
The Greater Accra Regional Representative of the ICU, Belinda Cochrane, said it was time to break the biases of favouritism, prejudices, unfairness that worked against women.
The Chairperson of the Professional and Managerial Staff Union (PMSU) of the NTC, Diana Bosuh, said the progress of women would require bold ambition and action.