IWD25: Wanted! Female leaders!: Empowering the next generation of female leaders in Ghana

By Ama Serwah NERQUAYE-TETTEH  [email protected] 

It is early March. Everywhere you turn, there are women’s events. And so there should be. Women are not celebrated enough and so we will gladly take these events and awards and praises heaped on us in March.

Politicians will make speeches about the importance of equity and what they are doing to make this happen. International organizations will theme each year and organise events around the themes. Startling figures will come out, making a staggering point: although so much has been done, a lot more remains to be done.

In our (m)arch towards equity (we don’t dare say equality ), we must remember that males are also on the march, not waiting for females to catch up.  (nothing wrong with that, really).

A key assumption of this write up is that, deep within, both genders see nothing wrong with females aspiring to the same things as males. That both females and males see no reason, traditional, professional, generational nor religious, why women should be short-changed and share a mutual desire for all to aspire to leadership, ubuntu-style.

In Ghana, Article 17 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana stipulates that all persons are equal before the law. Put simply, one should be treated as a Ghanaian, not a Ghanaian male or Ghanaian female.Opportunities for leadership therefore, should be gender neutral.

In fact, in the life of this independent country, as far back as 1959, the concept of female participation in national leadership had come to the fore when the People’s Representation Act allowed ten women to join the National Assembly,. How is it that this action has not progressed much in 60 years?

On paper, one could argue that there have been some successes. We have progressively ensured that females can access most education and can stand for political positions among others – although the impediments to their successes in these endeavours endure. And they are well known to us :lack of access to resources including financial resources; lack of support from their communities and societal expectations that women stay back and allow themselves to be led.

We are not doing well when it comes to female leadership. Let me share some statistics. At the 2021 census,females formed 50.7% of Ghanaians.

Yet, in business leadership, the Boardroom Diversity Index tells us that as at July 2024, women  represented 18% of CEOs/MDs, 23% of CFOs, and 27% of COOs.^[1].

In religious leadership, some denominations still do not ordain women. This limits women’s presence in top leadership positions. The Church of Pentecost, with 3,333,654 (three million, three hundred and thirty-three thousand, six hundred and fifty-four) as at the 2021 census,representing 10.8% of the total Ghanaian population, still does not ordain female ministers.

Political leadership is equally worrying.In the 2023 district assembly elections, a staggering 95.9 percent of the 6,243 persons elected as assembly members were males, while only 259 females, constituting 4.1 percent, were elected.^[2]

Even in our co-ed senior high schools, the School Prefect is a boy, and then there is a head girl or girls’ prefect. Yes, the sub-conscious push-back against female leadership starts even before the girls become women.

So, we are not doing well in encouraging female leadership, to put it lightly.

And yet,we all know why women must lead. Or shall I enumerate a few?

1.  Equitable leadership leads to better decision making as the views of both gender are well represented.
2. Women, being biologically different from men and having different experiences, possess a uniqueness in perspective,  needed to complete the leadership mix.
3. Having women leaders is telling young girls that they can be leaders too.
4.  It is lonely at the top for the few women leaders out there;the corridors of power need to mirror society.

This article is a call to females, who have defied the odds and  become  leaders in various spheres of life, to raise other women leaders.  Because, let us face it,ain’t no one else doing it for us!

Raise leaders;purposefully

Lady leader any where, any level, have a programme to mentor young females. Be purposeful about it. In your religious space, in your workplace, in your political space, take an interest in females and mentor them.Teach them. Please, they do not need to be exceptional to start with. Too much sifting will make you lose hidden gems and we know there are many female leaders (gems) hidden under rocks.

Teach them what you wish your 18 or 27 year-old self knew about how to prepare to lead. Spare some time to recognize and encourage women who are making the effort to rise into leadership. Accept to speak at empowerment programmes for free,even organize them if you can.  Show the young ones where the cracks and potholes are, lest they fall into them

Give young females a leg up

This is the whole purpose of affirmative action.Ignore the chatter about bad experiences some women have had helping women. The stakes are too high not to do something. Moreover, the same can be said for helping men. Establish small scholarship schemes, pay some school fees, donate items to struggling female students. Offer internship opportunities.

Accept to be referees for girls. Coach girls on interviewing skills and how to survive bias in the workplace. Help mid-career women aspiring to leadership. And dear female politicians,do not leave politics without bringing up other females, we need to multiply. 40 female parliamentarians out of 276 is not a good statistic!

This International Women’s day, let us bring put charity at its original starting place and demonstrate intentionality in helping women suceed. Encourage women to pick forms for political office, invest in their political careers. If you have the means, help females willing to start churches, co-ops and the like. Let us rally behind women vying for all kinds of leadership positions.

We need more female leaders and it is up to us to help form them, because, if I may repeat :  ain’t no one else doing it for us!

 

Happy International Women’s Day!

^[1] https://theboardroomafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ghana-Board-Diversity-Index-Report-2024-5th-Edition.pdf

^[2]https://ilgs.edu.gh/media_center/blog_details/2023-district-level-elections-representation-of-women-low-ec

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