Private Legal Practitioner, Ms. Adwoa Osafredu Asubonteng has weighed in that there is a huge misconception that has shaped the mindset of many young women in Ghana to believe that society is against them.
Mainly this belief is centered on the fact that young women have the notion that men are against them or the bigger picture that the law is against them.
She emphasized that times have changed and are continuously changing. Society has embarrassed more the creed to relinquish more rights and opportunities to females. Laws have been upgraded substantially in this light, the article (17) of the 1992 constitution of Ghana states that all persons are equal before the law, in that no person shall be discriminated against on the grounds of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion or economic status. Some laws allow women to own properties independent of their husbands.
This revelation was made to participants at the Inspiring Ladies Colloquium held on 9th July 2022 at the Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology.
Ms. Adwoa Osafredu Asubonteng, who was the guest speaker, mentioned that as far back as the 1800s, there were laws that prevented women from engaging in commercialized trades, entrepreneurship, and taking up eminent positions in society. Money made by women either through wages, investments, or inheritance was claimed as properties of their husbands.
Women generally had minimal legal rights and were not recognized by law as separate legal beings. About 70 years ago in Ghana, there were still laws that prevented women from owning property without the consent of their husbands, these women themselves were considered to be properties of their spouses.
With all these factors in play, one would deem it natural that women lose their vigor and allure and blame it all on the society and systems put in place. Providentially, these systems and misconceptions in society cannot be said to hold the same level of dominance they possessed in the past.
Given these and several other revolutionary ideas propelling female empowerment, the issue of chalking success and excellence in your life as a young woman is largely composed of individual effort and decision. The responsibility of adding value to yourself has been relinquished into your very own capable hands.
It is up to you to take up opportunities and initiatives that would contribute to developing your personality as a woman. Fortunately for us, our world abounds with opportunities for our brilliant minds to grab hold of.
The concept of entrepreneurship and financial independence should be our mantra especially when the necessary ingredient to make it a reality is at our figure tips, that is our passion coupled with the help of technology.
It is up to us to build ourselves into the ideal women we want to see by surrounding ourselves with the right people who will motivate, challenge, and inspire us to become great.
Relationships are a worthy investment that cannot be overemphasized, therein the right ones are bound to make us and the wrong ones will ultimately accomplish the opposite in our lives.
Thinking about it critically, we would only have to look around our circles to find opportunities or people who would be willing to connect us to the next live transforming opportunity. If we, unfortunately, realize that our circle is incapable of connecting us to the right opportunity and cannot themselves be the source of opportunities to us, then the responsibility lies with us to pull them along unto seeing life in a different light.
‘Men are not against us, the problem is that we submit to the wrong men’, Ms. Adwoa Osafredu Asubonteng noted. She added that women should not ignore signs from men who feel intimated by their successes when building relationships. There are a lot of men who want to see you achieve more and would support you to bring the best out of you.
In this modern age, a lot has changed. We have moved from women cannot do, to even men empowering women. In addition to technology, we certainly must push on and build a better future for ourselves.
By: Benedicta Nelmon
