A former Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has encouraged women to make themselves available for leadership opportunities.

That, she explained, would ensure greater representation and inclusion of women at high-level decision-making.

"Women are woefully represented and we must present ourselves for opportunities in political, industrial and managerial opportunities. More females should take interest in politics to take spaces that will promote our interest," Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who is also a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), said at the Obaasima Summit in Accra last Friday.

Obaasima is an Akan word meaning “Ideal woman”.

Obaasima Summit

The Obaasima Summit is an all-women project organised by the MAP Leadership Organisation, in association with Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited.

It seeks to empower, equip and promote women to live and pursue their dreams in life.

In addition, it serves as a platform to reflect on and spark conversations among women who will soon become key business leaders and decision-makers and make a major contribution to shaping policies, devoid of negative stereotypes and depict the positive and progressive portrayal of women.

Held on the theme: “Progressive Portrayal of Women”, the summit, which was in three folds — the social conversation session, the mentorship dialogue and the speakers’ engagement session — was geared towards promoting the progressive portrayal of women in the media and advertising.

Participants engaged in mentoring sessions were paired with high achieving and dedicated female executives of Guinness Ghana to share their unique viewpoints around topics ranging from personal and professional experiences, overcoming negative and weak stereotypes and desired recommendations, all with the view to better portray women.

The second part of the summit, a panel discussion moderated by broadcaster Kokui Selormey, featured personalities such as Prof. Opoku-Agyeman, the Managing Director of Guinness Ghana, Ms. Héléne Weesie; the Director of Public Affairs, Parliament of Ghana, Ms Kate Addo; the Executive Director of the Obaasima Summit, Ms. Ama Pratt, and the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr.

Equal representation

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who was the running mate to former President John Dramani Mahama in the 2020 presidential election, advocated equal representation and inclusion of women in political, managerial and industrial positions in the country.

She said more women should be given the opportunity to pursue leadership and managerial roles, particularly across male-dominated industries and sectors of the country.

Strides

When she took her turn to make a presentation, Ms Weesie said the partnership between Guinness Ghana and the MAP Leadership Organisation was a sign of the strides women were making in society and globally on gender-based activities.

She said it was necessary to portray women progressively by highlighting the impressive milestone being chalked up by them and their impact on society.

“Women are making great strides, both individually and collectively, in the world we live in now. That is why it is important that we begin to portray them progressively by highlighting the impressive milestones being chalked by them and narratives that make it normal for women to be engineers, pilots, surgeons, presidents, CEOs and whatever they choose to be, without being subjected to the stereotypical roles society expects of us,” she said.

She said the fight for inclusion and diversity was everyone’s responsibility.