�Adopt Collective Leadership Style�

The Executive Director of the African Women�s Development Fund (AWDF), Mrs Theo Sowa, has called on women leaders to adopt a collective leadership style as that was a better option to individual or self-centred leadership style. She said the idea of promoting women�s agenda and advocating women�s right would be much easier to achieve if women leaders worked as a team and focused on a particular goal at time. Speaking at a function to mark the 10th anniversary of the Women�s Manifesto in Accra, she said though a lot of progress had been made in promoting women�s rights and gender equality in national affairs, there were still some major challenges which could be dealt with if women leaders worked collectively. She said 10 years after the launch of the Women�s manifesto which created a road map for achieving its agenda, there was still a challenge of under-representation of women in politics, policy and decision making, Mrs Sowa also encouraged the present leadership to include young people in their advocacy programmes so they could learn ahead of time. She, however, commended the Abantu for Development and the Women�s Manifesto Coalition for initiating the Manifesto as it had helped empowered a lot of women, who before could not stand for their rights and compete against their male counterparts. The anniversary celebration of the Women�s Manifesto for Ghana was on the theme, �Women�s Manifesto at 10: Enhancing Women�s Voices in Policy Spaces.� Launched in September 2004, the Manifesto focused on the insufficient attention given to critical issues affecting women. It thus, created a platform for advocacy on a common set of demands for the achievement of women�s right, gender equality and sustainable national development. Some of the targets of the Manifesto are, women�s economic empowerment, women and land issues, social policy and development, women in politics, decision making and public life and women, human rights and the law. Others are discriminatory cultural practices, women and media, women, conflict and peace,women with special needs and establishing institutions with a mandate to promote women�s right. So far, progress made include the passage of legislations such as the Domestic Violoence Act, the Anti-trafficking Law and the Persons with Dissability Act.