Gender must not be a barrier to making career choices, rather women should persevere and remain resilient to make their dreams come true.
“Young girls must be courageous enough to venture into male dominated professions instead of always opting for the supposed easy way out” Ms Sandra Effah, proprietor of Asiedua Cleaning Services, has said.
“Nothing is impossible to achieve so parents and guardians must also ensure they do not discourage their wards from choosing male dominated careers because gender means nothing to a determined individual,” she added.
Ms Sandra told the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday that despite the hurdles that came with choosing a career path that had more men than women, the stress was worth it.
She revealed she was among the few females in the country who joined her male counterparts to engage in fumigation exercises for companies and individuals who contacted her outfit for such services.
Though the fumigation sector was male dominated, she said she gladly joined her workers for the exercise saying, “I would rather put in effort to save cost by participating in every activity that is required to satisfy clients than looking on as the boss without learning.”
According to Ms Effah, who is a graduate of the Ghana Institute of Journalism and the Jayee University College, Accra, she would never regret venturing into the fumigation and cleaning sector despite her passion for writing.
She added that she had always dreamed of becoming a very successful woman and would persevere to achieve her aim even if it had to be through venturing into a male dominated profession.
“I love writing and I still do some writing and a lot of reading but this will never prevent me from doing all I can to add value to my life. I want to be self-empowered.”
“I enjoy my fumigation exercises though I am the only female on my team now I do it with pride and it is not difficult so I encourage my fellow women to think outside the box and not look down or fear any kind of job. Nothing is impossible to achieve so do not stop simply because you are a woman,” she added.
Touching on the need for graduates to be entrepreneurially-minded, Ms Effah admonished them to be creative enough to start something on their own instead of waiting for white colour jobs.
Citing herself as an example, she indicated that she started running her cleaning firm by going round soliciting for contracts and cleaning spaces herself.
“I did not wait for anyone to come and do the cleaning for me while I looked on, no, I never did that. I always partook in the cleaning myself and now that we are offering fumigation services too I have joined the fumigation team. I am young and energetic so this is not the time to relax at all,” she said.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
