Women and girls have been urged to become more assertive and refuse to settle for mediocrity.
Madam Augustina Gyamfi, Ashanti Regional Director of the Department of Gender, said they should work hard to live their dreams - to take up leadership positions to protect their interest and that of children.
She was addressing this year’s regional celebration of the International Women’s Day at Kuntanase in the Bosomtwe District.
“Gender equality by 2030, inclusion of all women” was the theme chosen for the event.
It brought together women groups, health workers, teachers’, school children and church groups.
Madam Gyamfi called for the government to make the development of women and girls an urgent national priority.
They should be supported to fully exploit their talents and acquire trades and vocations that would help lift them out of poverty.
She also spoke of the need to act boldly to remove cultural practices, which were discriminatory and harmful to the dignity of women, citing widowhood rites and female genital mutilation.
She used the occasion to advice school girls to work hard on their books and venture into areas that had traditionally been dominated by men.
Madam Victoria Antwi Agyei, the District Chief Executive (DCE), said women should “not be their own enemy” and that they should accept to stand together and support each other.
She counseled adolescent girls to desist from early sex and other reckless choices, which would ruin their lives.
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