Africa-Press – Ghana. Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, the Member of Parliament of the Korle Klottey Constituency, has encouraged boys and girls to advocate inclusivity in school and their communities and learn to understand the value of honouring womanhood.
She said it was important for young people to realise that what was seen as a norm should be fair to both males and females.
“When I was growing up, I was never told I couldn’t do certain things because I was a girl. That has a way of having an impact on you without you knowing,” she said.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings gave the encouragement at a two-day National Youth Conference by the National Youth Authority and Plan International Ghana in Gomoa Fetteh, Central Region.
The conference on the theme: “Igniting Potential; Inspiring Change” brought together hundreds of youth from across the 16 regions including senior high schools to be empowered and engaged for their contributions towards youth development.
Dr Zanetor as the keynote speaker at a breakout session on “Girls and Young Women’s Participation in Political Leadership,” advised young ladies to broaden their knowledge and be ready to present themselves as worthy of being given opportunities, adding that she believed in each one of them.
“It saddens my heart when we are looking for a woman to fill a position and not getting any with the qualification and so have to give it to someone else.
Be good at whatever you choose to do and build yourself. Let’s fill the gap, let’s believe in ourselves.
“It shouldn’t always be oh it’s all men on the panel, let’s find one women to join to balance it. No, there should be an intentional effort to make women and men inclusive and side by side,” she noted.
The MP also admonished girls to support one another to stand up when they fell in the course of trying to do something great like joining a decision-making table or fighting for a leadership position.
“Young men, let’s support women to get to where they want to be. It could be your sister, or your daughter someday,” she added.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings asked girls and young women to develop interest for local governance or local assembly activities if they had interest in joining mainstream politics in future.
“One thing that makes Ghana unique is the fact that we have few places that are ungovernable because of decentralisation, so take the opportunity to learn at the local level,” she advised.
Mr Constant Tchona, the Country Director, Plan International Ghana, in his opening remarks said the conference as part of the “She Leads Project” of Plan in partnership with the National Youth Authority, sought to amplify the voices of young women and girls in leadership and governance.
“Through this platform, we seek to build the capacity of young women to actively participate in political leadership, and to shape policies that will directly impact their lives and communities,” he added.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings, he said was a trailblazer and an inspiration to many young people as her leadership, activism, and commitment to social change were a testament to the transformative power of young women in leadership.
To Mr Tchona, the conference was an opportunity to confront head-on the systemic barriers that young women faced in politics and leadership, and to examine how they could, as a collective body, dismantle those barriers to create an environment that truly valued and amplified their contributions.
Madam Shamima Muslim, a Deputy Presidential Spokesperson, told the youth that the nation could only have an inclusive movement if her citizens had inclusive mind-set to take intentional decisions on including everyone.
“Nobody can explain better the experience and pains of mothers that have put to bed and have to report to work than they themselves. So women or girls must always be at the decision making table,” she said.
Madam Muslim noted that women provided the majority labour, another reason it made sense to involve them in decision making.
“If you think you come from a family of people who are only led and don’t lead or who only receive and don’t give, ask yourself why can’t you be different. Why can’t you also be a game changer?
“If it’s school prefectship position, as a girl, contest, win or lose and learn how it is to lose an election, she advised.
She also asked them to learn public speaking while practising other skills they desired to become perfect fit for any opportunity available in future.
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