The National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) has launched its maiden Women’s Week with a pledge to increase the inclusion and participation of women in the leadership process at the local level.

The association maintains that even though the population of women in Ghana outweighs that of men, the situation does not reflect in leadership positions at the district level.

The women’s forum was on the theme “Creating Effective Platform for Supporting and Increasing Women’s Leadership at the Local Level.”

According to NALAG, the trend has continued to render women under-represented in decision-making.

Addressing the press in Accra at the women’s forum, the General Secretary of NALAG, Ms Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, said the concern of her outfit is to change the current leadership structure where men dominate.

She lamented that even though women, both home and abroad, have proven to initiate change in their locality, they (women) are not offered the opportunity to do same at the local level.

“In Ghana, for instance, even in the capital, Accra, as of the time of writing this report, out of the 16 MMDAs, only one district has successfully confirmed a women as a chief executive, a situation not too different from what pertained four years ago. This picture is also not different from what exists across the country,” she noted.

Ms Naa Momo Lartey added that there was the need for NALAG to comprehensively examine and assess the levels of inclusion and participation of women in the governance and leadership processes at the local level.

Touching on the objectives of the forum, she mentioned that it would form a strong strategic support base for women in leadership at the local level, present a review of key interventions to increasing women’s leadership at the district level and their impact.

The rest are, review and create awareness of the critical issues of governance and leadership, and adopt strategies to increase the women’s leadership, with a focus on key positions such as MMDCEs, MPs, finance, and administration, among others.

The President of NALAG Women’s Caucus, Madam Rita Akosua Awatey, who supported the assertions of the first speaker, in a brief remark, said: “NALAG has come to realise women are being cheated when it comes to leadership positions.”

She, however, added that the women’s forum was intended to bring women together to deliberate and agree on how they would begin to take up leadership positions.

Madam Rita Akosua Awatey also announced that as part of the forum’s celebration, her outfit would be engaging female students and religious bodies to widen the scope of the initiative.

To that end, she added: “Girls must see themselves as the light of the future,” as she called for other corporate bodies to support them with funding.