Christian Mothers Association trains women in leadership skills
The annual civic education programme for members of the Christian Mothers Association (CMA), a non-governmental organisation in the Catholic Church, has begun in parts of the country, leading to the training of a number of women in leadership roles and decision-making processes at all levels.
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Since it began in February this year, over 7000 women have benefited from the programme, which is on the theme, “Votes for Women: Ghanaian Women Using Numerical Strength and Non-Violence to Effect Change - Numbers Count.”
The beneficiaries are from the Kumasi Archdiocese and some dioceses namely Obuasi, Konongo-Mampong, Wa, Navrongo-Bolgatanga and Koforidua, as well as the Donkokrom Vicariate, and 15 deaneries in the country.
Women in leadership
The CMA secretariat is organising the programme in collaboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), to encourage more women into leadership positions, and the training team is set to move to Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region and some areas in the northern part of the country this week.
The KAS, a German political foundation that focuses on civic education, is the main sponsor and has been associated with the CMA since its inception. It has helped women to influence policies by attaining leadership roles and policy-making positions.
At one of such programmes in the Kumasi Archdiocese, a retired Director at the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Peter H. Mensah, encouraged women to leverage their numerical advantage to tilt the course of electoral decisions in their favour.
He said utilising such a weapon was critical in determining electoral result that would enable them to use their political influence in the overall politics of the country and said, “it is mainly through election by massive voting for their own that this influence can be effected.”
Low representation of women
Results from the various elections since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1992 have shown that women have performed poorly in the Legislature in spite of their relatively large population.
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Mr Mensah said the challenge was for women to discover and realise their potential to be able to contribute in equal measure with men to the development of society through politics.
“It does not appear that women are yet conscious of their ability to strive to take their rightful place in politics let alone recognising the power they have in their numbers.
Women can only cure this malady of lack of consciousness and aspire to use the electoral process to advance their political cause with the power of numbers through regular sensitisation and orientation. This is a further charge to the leadership of the various women’s organisations, especially those with gender parity advocacy as their objective,” he said.
Women and violent-free election
Mr Mensah said women were best placed to ensure free, fair and non-violent election because they had a greater interest in the preservation of peace and stability of society.
“At the community level, women opinion leaders can arrange open and one-on-one interactions with the youth and admonish them against electoral violence. Women groups in the church can seek a platform to interact with the youth and advise them to refrain from any activities intended to arouse conflict during the elections,” he said.