WOMEN URGED TO UTILIZE THEIR       POTENTIALS                                                                                                                   

The Director of Ghana Immigration Service, Mrs. Elizabeth Adjei, has advised women to recognize the value of their skills and potentials and put them to good use for the benefit of their families, themselves and the prosperity of their countries.

She said women were extremely capable and competent and that most of them had enviable and impressive academic and professional qualifications which could be tapped for national development.

 Mrs Adjei  who gave the advise in a statement issued to commemorate International Women Day, which fell on March 8, asserted that, in addition to these, women have other natural abilities and attributes which were essential for corporate leadership but these were often under-utilized.

She said women still faced tough challenges at the top and at the bottom which was because most women did not control their own lives and their needs wee often disregarded and were susceptible to physical and emotional abuse which could affect their confidence and self esteem.

She said social and cultural norms and conventions imposed certain limitations on women that tended to under-mine their self confidence, adding that "for example, society expects women to be soft, completely obligated, motherly dedicated putting the interest of others above theirs".

She in this context if women tried to be objective and assertive, they were often blackmailed or labeled as 'tough', 'aggressive,' 'wicked' and 'self cantered', stressing that "that we have veritable conflict to deal with, and we have to win".

Mrs. Adjei pointed out that in today's world, women's role in the development process and become increasingly significant, despite the fact that they bent through varied and challenging experiences in life that impeded their progress.

She contended that it was significant to note that women confronted these challenges with admirable resilience and resoluteness which made them well equipped to find strategic solutions to crisis.

   (DAILY GRAPHIC,THURSDAY,MARCH 12 2009)

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