Women are vital in achieving empowerment

The Ambassador of France to Ghana, Madam Anne Sophie Ave, has said that the first vital tool for achieving women empowerment is women themselves.

She said women must demonstrate that “they are capable, responsible and should stand for themselves.”

“Women must strive for any heights or levels, for as long as they know that they can perform, and should take their rightful position because no one will give it to them”, she advised.

The ambassador, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview at the French Embassy in Accra ahead of the celebration of Good France, said women must be allowed to work or must be assigned positions once they were competent.

She said being a woman should not affect a woman’s role or right to work or occupy any position and that what was important was that she could perform and was given equal right as a man.

She advised women to take good care of themselves and be confident. 

The ambassador pointed out that there was a political will power by the presidents of both France and Ghana on the issue of gender, saying that the two countries were on the same page.

Learning French

Touching on the teaching and learning of the French language, she said she was happy that many more Ghanaians, particularly students and workers, were showing a lot of interest in the language.

She said the ability to speak French now was an asset and a vital tool for looking for jobs.

She observed that being surrounded by French-speaking countries, among other factors, it was very encouraging to observe how eager people were to learn French.

Mrs Ave also observed that Ghana was blessed with a great number of talented and educated youth.

“There are incredible characteristics to show that the youth want to learn and always did something incredible. There was such a strong will by Ghanaians to learn,” she said, adding that people always praised Ghanaians for their manpower level.

She stressed the importance to teach children French at a very early age and suggested television cartoons for children, adding that French films, for instance, could have sub-titles to help with the learning of the language.  

Democracy

Mrs Ave touched on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in general and said the issue about alleviating poverty, for instance, was very important and that the even and equitable distribution of resources was key.

She said the world was watching Ghana in her democratic journey and described Ghana as the African model.

The ambassador also touched on climate change and the environment and the efforts being made by Ghana in addressing the issue of plastic waste disposal.  

Good France

Mrs Ave said France would be celebrating its annual and global festival of French gastronomy known as Good France this month (March).

She said in Ghana a number of activities had been lined up for the occasion to give the people of Ghana a good taste of French cuisine and an experience of great French culture and music.

The ambassador was happy to note that Francophone members welcomed Ghana’s candidature.