Second lady, Samira Bawumia, has called for equal access to education, businesses, finance and land among others, to help propel them economically and to function efficiently.
She was giving a keynote address at the beginning of the maiden edition of the Global Women’s Professional and Business Exchange Conference in Accra.
Mrs Bawumia noted that there shouldn’t be any situation where women are last in terms of consideration for resource distribution.
“If we want gender equality to be achieved on time then we must not pay lip service to female inclusion in decision making and leadership. Women empowerment is about rights and equitable societies,” she said.
She said there is no doubt that women’s economic empowerment is a prerequisite for sustainable deft and achievement of the sustainable development goals.
The second lady added women in leadership must adopt younger ones and mentor them to attain leadership positions in the future.
“We must prepare our younger African women to occupy positions since the affirmative action will require a critical mass of qualified females,” she noted.
She called for reforms to ensure women have equal rights to economic resources as well as access to ownership and control over landforms of property, financial service and natural resources in accordance with national laws.
She called for special provisions to be made for special provisions to be made for access to credit and financing for business development and growth.
Mrs Bawumia also advocated the use of Information Technology (IT) to promote the empowerment of women.
The global women’s professional business exchange conference brings together many professional women worldwide to share and leverage experiences in several national development.