The Women’s Wing of the Students’ Chaplaincy Board (SCB), Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED), has held what it dubbed ‘The She Can’ Leadership conference for some 150 Christian Students of the University. It was themed – ‘Christians for Leadership beyond the Church.’
Two speakers, Lawyer Mrs. Ohenewaa Boateng Newman, Gender Desk Coordinator of AAMUSTED, and Rev. Susana Anaman Mensah, Pastor with the Methodist Church-Ghana and Teacher at the Yaa Asantewaa Girls SHS, did expositions to the participants on the topics, Womanhood in Contemporary Times and Leadership for Women, respectively. There was also a session for skills training in doughnuts and facial make-up for the participants.
At ‘The She Can’ programme on April 30, 2022, Lawyer Mrs. Newman sought to disabuse the perception that feminism is only about women. She said the phenomenon is about equality of rights and opportunities for both genders, adding that more attention is brought to women regarding feminism because of the widespread biases against women.
She noted that such biases had undermined the social fabric, devalued humanity, and wasted the world’s human potential. She, however, pointed to significant improvements in recent times regarding the biases against the female gender. She listed some of them as more girls now in school and excelling, fewer girls forced into early marriages, the number of women holding high political offices like parliament and in the executive increasing, and laws made or reformed to advance gender equality.
She called for more gender equality advocacy and awareness to expedite the realisation of desired equality between males and females regarding opportunities.
‘Womanhood is not about your relationships, jobs, body parts, or anything or anyone else but yourself,’ she told them. Therefore she asked females to change their mindset, learn to display confidence respectfully, be resilient, take new progressive paths, and be conscious about their appearance and how they talk if they were to celebrate their womanhood.
Rev. Mensah based her talk on the character of the biblical Queen Esther, asking the participants to be visionary, be beautiful but have a positive attitude and appeal, exude courage, take risks, and have concern for others more than their parochial interests.
