A total of 100 women selected from 25 communities in the Asutifi District have completed a three-day leadership training course at Nkaseim during which they were taken through the
rudiments of good leadership and civil responsibilities.
The training workshop was a partnership between ActionAid Ghana, an NGO, and Dormaa Traditional Healers and Birth Attendants Association.
Mr. Boakye Fosuhene Snr, Asutifi District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), said women could do more to change their abysmally low representation in the district assemblies and urged them to accept more leadership roles in the next district assembly elections.
He said though women constituted more than 50 percent of Ghana's population it did not reflect in their representation at the decision making level and this often left men to take all decisions including those designed solely for women and girls.
Mr. Fosuhene identified male dominance, inadequate self-confidence among women and low level of female education as major factors deterring women from accepting leadership roles in Ghana.
He called for dialogue and regular interaction between women and queen mothers towards confidence building and role-modelling.
Mr. John Aba, programme officer of ActionAid, urged participants to draw inspiration from the current Speaker of Ghana's Parliament, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Chief Justice and the Minister of Youth and Sports who had amply demonstrated the capacity of women in leadership.
Mr. Mahama Salaam, programme coordinator of the Dormaa Association noted with concern the downward trend of female representation at the local levels and appealed to community leaders to stop the trend.
Citing the situation in Dormaa Municipality, Mr. Salaam said elected women to the assembly during the 2004 and 2008 district level elections did not exceed four.