Wa, March 17, GNA – Young women in Ghana have been encouraged to find their own path and motivation that will spur them on to live up to the theme for the 2017 International Women’s Day Celebration: “Be Bold for Change.”

However, this cannot be achieved if young women fail to embrace education, science and technology, involvement in politics and acceptance of other leadership positions.

Dr Aamidatu Darimani, Dean of Students at the Wa Polytechnic gave the encouragement during the 2017, International Women’s Day celebration in Wa organised by Cama Ghana with support from Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) Ghana.

“Seize every opportunity; endeavour to follow your own hopes, not other people’s expectations. Do what needs to be done to keep your identity as a woman,” she emphasised.

“Do that, and you will be able to seize every opportunity that comes along. You do not have to feel too young, too old, too incapable or too female. And then you will find that the best years of your life are always ahead of you,” she said.

Dr Darimani said gender gap still persisted across the globe and women were still not present in equal numbers in education, business or politics.

She said figures showed that globally, women’s education health and violence towards women was still worse than that of men, adding that the World Economic Forum predicted that the gender gap would not close entirely until 2186.

“This is such a long time to wait,” she said.

She noted that the celebration of the International Women’s Day every year could be an important catalyst and a vehicle for driving greater change for women and moving closer to gender parity.

Dr Darimani said the theme for 2017 was apt in encouraging people to step up and take ground breaking actions to help drive gender equality.

“It is like an active message that is likely to resonate with the millions of women and girls who have taken to the streets to march this year in opposition to divisive politics,” she said.

Mr Sulemana Alhassan, the Upper West Regional Minister commended Cama Ghana and Camfed Ghana for organising the event to highlight the importance of the day and to celebrate Cama members who have contributed to the empowerment of young women and girls in particular, and community development in general.

He said the day also created a platform for women to assess their accomplishment and challenges and more importantly look ahead to the untapped potentials and opportunities that await young women.

Mr Alhassan said he was happy to learn that Cama Ghana had supported more than 40,000 children to go to school at primary and secondary levels while leading advocacy to break down barriers for girls and women at community, national and international levels.

The Regional Minister gave the assurance that government would continue to collaborate with Camfed and Cama and any other non-state actors to ensure the expansion of opportunities for young women and girls.