Empower women to achieve full potential — Abaidoo
A Community Development activist, Madam Harriet Anita Abaidoo, has called for more positive steps to empower women, majority of who are in the informal sector in the country, to achieve their full potential.
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Speaking at a sensitisation programme at the Kaneshie Market in Accra to educate the market women on what they could do to uplift their living standards, she said to increase women’s representation in Parliament and in other leadership positions, they should be made to understand from the scratch the relevance of leadership, through education in order to enable them to have confidence, believe in themselves and know that they had the power to be what they wanted to be.
The programme, which was organised by Hart Community Development Initiative, was on the theme, “Safeguarding the Future of the Market Women in Our Changing Market”.
It also formed part of activities to mark the annual International Women’s Day (IWD) held on March 8 every year with focus on women's status around the globe.
Participants in the event were taken through social topics such as health and sanitation, as well as the culture and importance of saving.
Celebrate market women
Madam Abaidoo said on international women’s day, for instance, market women, who played very pivotal roles in the nation’s economy, were not celebrated as they should.
She said the focus on the celebration in the country was usually centered on the elite and corporate women who had achieved one notable stride or the other, asserting that although such thoughts were laudable, it was important for it to be extended to the market women as well.
The District Environmental Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Obeng Yeboah, advised the women to be cautious of their health by making their sanitation needs a priority.
He said as traders, it was important for them to keep their place of work clean in order not to ‘sell germs and other bacteria to their customers through their wares’.
He also encouraged them to participate in the monthly National Sanitation Day exercise, which is geared towards ensuring a clean and safe environment.
A Medical Officer of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Emily Nortey, who addressed the traders about meningitis, urged them to observe personal hygiene at all times.
She said the disease, which was caused by a bacteria and spread through coughs and sneezes, had so far killed some people, announcing that some of the symptoms were severe headaches, stiff necks, and sometimes infected persons were unable to look into the light.
She, therefore, advised the traders not to treat headaches as malaria symptoms with malaria medications but should visit the hospitals to go through proper checkup and medication, since the disease was curable, if detected early.