AWLN Ghana chapter celebrates African Women, calls for strengthened collaboration

By Bertha Badu-Agyei

Accra, July 31, GNA – The African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), Ghana Chapter has joins women across the continent and the diaspora in celebrating the 2025 African Women’s Day, marking the enduring strength, resilience, and leadership of African women.   

The theme for this year’s celebration “Rooted in Greatness: Celebrating Women of African Descent,” invites all to reflect not only on the rich heritage but also on the extraordinary contributions of African women past and present in shaping societies.   

AWLN in a statement signed by Dr Charity Binka, the President of AWLN Ghana chapter to mark the day, called for a loud unified action for justice, equity and transformative leadership to advance cause of leadership.  

In 2024, the AWLN Ghana Chapter marked the Day with a Maiden Awards Ceremony on the theme “One Vision, Many Voices: Celebrating our Gender Champions,” aimed to recognise and celebrate outstanding gender champions to reinforce the importance of gender diversity and inclusion.  

A total of 22 trailblasing individuals, both women and men, were recognised for their efforts in promoting gender equality and women’s leadership in their disciplines.    

The statement said this year’s celebration was especially meaningful as it calls on all of us to honour the greatness deeply embedded in the African woman’s identity.   

“Whether in politics, education, agriculture, business, health, the arts, or community development, women of African descent continue to transform lives and redefine leadership in both visible and quiet ways. Their impact stretches across generations and borders, grounded in courage, dignity, and collective progress”.  

As a Network committed to advancing women’s leadership, AWLN Ghana recognised both the victories and the unfinished work, “While African women are rising, they continue to face unequal access to resources, underrepresentation in decision-making spaces, and systemic barriers to economic and social mobility”.  

Ghana made history by electing her first female Vice President in the 2024 elections. However, the representation of women at all levels of decision-making remains very low, the statement said.   

“AWLN Ghana, therefore, sees the African Women’s Day as not just a ceremonial event, but a catalyst for reflection, recommitment, and action”.  

For women in Ghana, it affirmed their rightful place in the country’s development and aligned powerfully with the goals of the Affirmative Action Act, which sought to create a just society where women and men participate equally in shaping the nation’s future.   

The statement said AWLN looked forward to the full implementation of the Affirmative Action Act in the allocation of resources, appointments to all decision-making bodies to reflect gender balance in accordance with the law.   

The statement also called on the private sector actors to promote workplace policies that support gender diversity and provide opportunities for women’s advancement whiles appealing to traditional and religious leaders to challenge harmful norms which worked to women’s disadvantage.  

AWLN Ghana appealed to traditional and religious leaders to use their influence to challenge harmful norms and champion the value of women’s leadership in communities.   

It would also continue to recognise the role of civil society and the media in keeping the spotlight on progress, expose resistance or inaction, and continue amplifying the voices of women and girls.  

GNA  

31 July 2025  

Edited by Christabel Addo