The topical issue of girl-child education has engaged the attention of many people in the recent past and continues to do so. The question one may ask is “Why is the focus on girls only? Or can the activists be labeled as feminists?

To address the above questions adequately, certain factors readily come to mind as contributing to this gender issue.

The typical traditional African society had a peculiar perception about the education of females. Girls were basically regarded as homemakers. The notion that a woman’s place is the Kitchen is most sexist and over-exaggerated by many parents-especially the fathers. Fathers who were not “academically endowed” preferred to sponsor their sons’ education to the neglect of the daughters. The slightest poverty in the home led to the girls being sacrificed for the boys to be in school.

Other families also held on to the pessimistic view that girls could easily get pregnant and drop out of school. Thus, girls were persistently marginalized so far as formal education is concerned. Those who had the opportunity of being enrolled in school were confronted with another challenge-that they were more capable in pursuing Arts courses instead of the sciences. One wonders whether there is any empirical proof or evidence for this assertion.

Therefore, females, over the years, are subtly influenced by these assumptions and perceptions in their career choices.

Women had also been discriminated against in being assigned responsibilities at workplaces or even at the national level.

These and other factors generated public concern in drawing people’s attention to the importance of educating females.

Concerned citizens took it upon themselves to address the girl-child issue with write-ups in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. The phrase “women empowerment” became a household term. And why wouldn’t it be since formal education plays a significant role in leveling the society, changing people’s economic status and general lifestyles. Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME) workshops are organized nationwide for young girls in the JSS and SSS to disabuse their minds of the perception that Science is for boys.

Forum for African women Educationists (FAWE) has been a force to reckon with in forming clubs in schools to encourage the young girls to serve as role models in sensitizing their counterparts in their respective communities to pursue formal education. The Girl-Child Unit of the Ghana Education service and the Ministry for Women and Children’s Affairs are measures put in place to address this gender issue.

When girls are given access to quality education, they have a lot to offer in moving our nation forward. Such women gain recognition and prestige in the communities they live in. even those with the lowest-paid jobs command a lot of respect, provided they carry themselves about decently.

Undoubtedly, education makes a woman economically independent, a firm support to her family and thereby contributing immensely to national development.

Why did Dr. Aggrey say that “If you educate a man you educate an individual but if you educate a woman you educate the whole nation”? The woman is at the centre of the home, the pivot around which the whole family revolves. She exercises a greater influence on the children and plays a major role in educating them.

Educated women, when given the opportunity to hold leadership positions, can do wonders. They challenge their male counterparts in discharging their duties effectively to the admiration of all. That may explain why modern leaders have realized the need to place women in key positions and majority of them perform very well.

In a nutshell, let us all give women the chance to scale the heights and where possible, rub shoulders with men in all life’s endeavors. This way, they make better homemakers, make more informed choices and become valuable assets to the nation.

Long live women, long live all!

Vivian Mireku (Mrs.)
Ghana Senior High School
Koforidua.