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An Epistle To Young Ghanaian Feminists

Dear Young Feminists,

Pursuant to a trending video in which our President, H. E. Nana Addo Dunkwa Akuffo-Addo expresses his views on how women can create space for themselves in the political arena, we would love to react to the wave of negative criticisms that the said video has generated.

The criticisms about the President’s views are preposterously unjustifiable.

With matters regarding feminism, we need to address it devoid of partisan sentiments or else it will be an exercise in futility.

The issue of feminism is a very controversial yet delicate, intriguing as well as it being a sentimental one.

So in dealing with issues related to it, we need to be extremely circumspect lest we incur the wrath of the proponents.

Both naturally and constitutionally, everyone has the right to expression. However, we should not sound as if in the milieu of feminism, sentimentality seemingly overrides objectivity.

To us, inasmuch as the efforts at both national and global level to push for the gender equality agenda, the opportunity to be on the decision-making table, meritocracy not gender should be the yardstick.

Evidently, our political leaders over the years have really done a lot to provide political space to deserving women. In addition, several policies and international conventions have been initiated to empower our women.

At our national level, the appointments of Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood as the Chief Justice, Mrs. Joyce Bamford Addo as the Speaker of Parliament, Mrs. Charlotte Osei and Mrs. Jean-Mensah as EC bosses, Madam Loretta Vivian Lamptey as a CHRAJ boss among several others to head very important and sensitive institutions need to be commended.

Our young feminists should note that these appointments did not occur in a vacuum neither were they based on beauty but on merit.

The critical issues that as feminists in Ghana, we need to address

The critical issues that as feminists in Ghana, we need to address are:

How to prepare our next crop of women to compete equally with their counterparts without any antagonistic tendency.

How to effectively deal with enviousness which is innately characteristic of femininity.

To address the first one, in our view, feminists have woefully failed with their approach.

The methods of using TV Talk Shows and other Social Media Outlets are yielding fewer results than expected.

In our current dispensation where some significant percentage of young girls prefer being slay queens to earn celebrity status, TV Talk Shows will have little impact.

Therefore, it is not surprising that most young ladies would rather scatter a plethora of nude pictures and videos on Social Media for quick popularity than to join the train of feminism.

Arguably, most feministic activisms are devoid of pragmatic approaches like mentorship and scholarship programs, seminars, symposia, rural outreach among other initiatives.

The adoption of these approaches would not only add impetus to the global call for gender equality but serve as a rudimentary stage for preparation to leadership roles.

In the absence of strategic and conscious approach, feminists will continue to cry over the limited role that women play in decision making.

The second is about the paradox of feminism. The feminists are asking for equal representation in decision making but women in positions have done little to help reduce the vulnerabilities of women.

The perception that women are enemies to themselves cannot be discounted. It is not a surprise when women in authority, ironically do little to support the course of gender equality.

The sheer enviousness among women when seeing their colleagues progressing is militating against our collective efforts towards gender equality agenda.

Suffice, most women who are beneficiaries of the existing status quo are adamant to the demands of the feminist movement, all in the name of competition.

Classical feminists questions

As feminists, we hope the answers to these classical questions will not be a problem.

How many females in power have taken the initiative to empower their younger female counterparts?

How many females support each other without envy, gossips, bitterness, and backbiting?

Until Ghanaian feminists adopt pragmatic approaches to deal with these and other weaknesses, feminism will only be hyped as an unrealistic and a mythical theory.

We should kindly spare the President for expressing his views because you feminists have not done enough to help your own course.