Joyce Bawah Mogtari, a Special Aide to former President John Mahama, has admonished young women not to shy away from taking leadership roles if the opportunity avails to them.
She challenged them to avoid asking people for counsel that would not inure to their progress, growth and development, but those that would deepen, strengthen and position them for leadership roles in society.
“As young women you must build capacity, good attitudes, create women who are empowered and working places, be adaptable and need to persevere that is why talking about the theme is particularly insightful since that is another challenge for you to work on building your capacities as part of efforts to bridge the gender gap in society,” Mrs Mogtari entreated.
In a presentation at the 4th Obaasima Summit held in Accra, she observed that their male counterparts were dominating most spheres of the economy because many young women preferred to be in their comfort zones and shy away from leadership roles available to them.
According to her, a deliberate move by young women to improve themselves and build their capacity would go a long way to increase their contribution to the progress, growth and development of their communities and society generally.
“I also have no doubt the task has been sometimes, we have not been forthcoming to step into the doors that have been open for us, largely because of misogyny because young women probably are not as bold as our menfolk to transform society and the phenomenon of teenage pregnancy is another canker militating against the progress, growth and development of young women.
“One of the main issues that always saddens me, is teenage pregnancy. I think in the course of the pandemic, this has actually become an epidemic, large numbers of girls such as you will never make it to places such as this and will never walk the halls of universities because they have had to cut their education short because of early pregnancy,” Mrs Mogtari lamented.
She called for an intense education and sensitisation of young women, as well as reaching out to women leaders to ask how they had climbed up the leadership ladder to serve as role models in society for young women to emulate. –citinewsroom.com
