The National Youth Authority on Thursday pledged its commitment to empower young girls and women to inspire them.

“As an Authority, we are committed to investing in and building up responsible young women who will make informed decisions freely, and take responsibility for their lives,” the NYA said in a statement issued by Mrs Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, Acting National Coordinator of the Ghana National Youth Authority, to mark International Women’s Day.

She described Ghana’s theme for the celebration, “Connecting girls, inspiring futures” as “a powerful, strong and assuring theme for raising the standards of peace, tolerance, gender equality and respect for women’s rights at all levels of society”.

Mrs Tamakloe-Attionu said the theme supported the notion of integrating together fresh minds to constructively strategise on creating role models in the community to impact the lives of young women.

She said the National Youth Authority believed the time had come to guide the next generation of brilliant, strong and virtuous young women with an unshakable sense of integrity in the society by networking them through the Gender Network.

This would enable them to “ work together to inspire their futures by encouraging and motivating them to be self-disciplined, visionary, responsible to self, as the architects of their own futures, and working together in harmony with others”.

Mrs Tamakloe-Attionu said young women needed a paradigm shift from individualism to inter-dependence and support of one another as one people.

“Young women are capable, creative, energetic and prolific. These qualities we feel can be channelled to build strong nations and make a unique contribution to national development,” she said.

Mrs Tamakloe-Attionu noted that today, the world presented a better platform for young girls and women to network and raise their voices unlike decades ago where women were treated in many unequal ways to men.

“Women have had to struggle to gain recognition in the areas of politics, economics and employment amongst others. Progress has been made but the struggle for gender equality and women’s freedom continues.”

She urged society as a whole to reach out to all young girls, women and mothers, to show some appreciation on this day.

In order to attain the Millennium Development Goal of promoting gender equality and women empowerment, Mrs Tamakloe-Attionu appealed to all national stakeholders to work towards respecting and observing women rights, and including women in the decision making processes.

She asked young girls and women to stand up to their roles, set achievable goals, be visionary and persevering in their resolve to attain great heights.

“In celebrating women and their achievements we recognise that a sustainable society is one that includes gender equality. So as we celebrate International Women’s Day, we also acknowledge the role of young boys and young men and how they can assist in achieving the gender parity we all strive for,” Mrs Mrs Tamakloe-Attionu said.