Ghana needs women to occupy 50% high positions — Zonta Club

Dr Lydia Dsane-Selby, President of Zonta Club of Accra II, says Ghana needs about 50 per cent of all positions of influence to be occupied by women for it to develop.

She said countries like New Zealand and Finland, have majority of its women occupying high positions and that had help them to progress and develop steadily.

Dr Dsane-Selby made these remarks during a sensitization event organised by Zonta Club of Accra for head potters in the Mallam Atta market on the consequence of teenage pregnancy in Accra

She said a country’s development must focus on the education of women, hence the need to inform young girls on the importance of education.

She said the Club decided to educate the potters on teenage pregnancy, because “when a girl gets pregnant, she stops going to school and since a society’s development hinges on the education, there is the need for them to abstain from sex.”

Dr. Dsane-Selby said women could be empowered by helping them go to school and encouraging them to build their self-confidence in readiness to help in the development of the nation and their societies.

She advised the head potters, especially at the Mallam Atta market to abstain from premarital sex since it could lead to teenage pregnancy and concentrate on whatever they wanted to do in life.

She noted that it is not easy for girls to protect themselves from men who take advantage of women but they (head potters) must work hard and avoid such traps.

“Should men succeed in taking advantage of them, the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) should be the first point of contact for them for assistance,” she added.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mavis Adjei, DOVVSU Coordinator at the Nima Division, said head potters should not hesitate to report rape or defilement to the Unit or the police station and when they go through such difficulties.

Ghana presently has 36 women in its Parliament representing12.75 per cent from both the majority and minority sides, short of the 30 per cent representation set by the Inter-Parliamentary Union

The figure is an increase of 7 per cent, as against the 2012 election figure of 29, where 133 women contested 102 Parliamentary seats. Women are still underrepresented in the Ghanaian legislature.

Though Ghana has not attained gender parity, it has made some strides in bridging the gap. In the past, women personalities like Charlotte Osei, Sophia Akuffo and Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang rose to the highest position as Electoral Commission, Chief Justice and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast respectively.