Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle Constituency, Dr. Zanetor Rawlings has called on women to put aside gender stereotypes, take up jobs in public and other sectors and occupy leadership positions just like their male counterparts in order to help fight against gender disparity.
Explaining her point, she said if there were more women occupying offices in the various arms of government, as well as in the private sector, issues regarding domestic violence and other awful crimes against young girls and women would have been minimized.
“I think that If we were to have a lot more women represented in the various arms of government, as well as in the private sector and everywhere else, issues regarding domestic violence and sexual abuse, and defilement of our young girls will not be as awful as they are right now because we will have a lot more women fighting for the rights of our young children,” she opined.
Dr. Zanetor Rawlings made this call when she joined other women leaders and entrepreneurs at the National Women’s Summit organized by Charter House in Accra Thursday.
The National Women’s Summit was organized in line with the International Women’s Day marked extensively worldwide on March 8 to celebrate women and their role in society.
According to the Klottey Korle legislator, women should not be frightened when they see men in certain positions but should also make the attempt to get there because not all the men occupying public offices or in various positions are great but were put there because they are ‘men’.
However, as the fight for equal representation through the Affirmative Action Bill heightens, Dr. Zanetor Rawlings said there was the need for women to enrich their knowledge so as to help those who are willing to get into public offices and positions to improve upon themselves.
“If we’re to achieve that objective of having equal representation as at some point … what we need to do as women to ensure the quality of women who are making it into these positions is to ensure that we are enriching our knowledge and helping those around us who will like to get into such areas to improve upon themselves,” she clarified.
She has, therefore, called on society to have respect for women and recognize the fact that women are capable of doing a lot to change the world at large.
“The reality is where you have more women you have a balance representation, whether it’s in peace building, and if you’re doing anything relating to conflict resolution and you have women on the panel, you have a more lasting outcome of peace so women have a vital role to play,” she emphasized.
