Former Deputy Minister for Communications Victoria Hammah says women in public office must work hard in order to prove their worth.

This was in reaction to a statement by Gender Activist Hajia Fati Abubakar.

Hajia Fati, who is also an aide to NPP’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, believes one way to ensure gender parity in public office is to make a conscious effort to place only qualified women in such positions.

The two ladies were among four panellists on 3FM’s Sunrise on Saturday. They deliberated on women empowerment and the issues mitigating against increased women participation in politics.

Hajia Fati argued that public office should not be given as a token to women.

Sharing her strong opinion, Victoria Hammah said women are not seen as being incompetent until they have proven their competence.

“When women are engaged in public life, the standard from which they start from in terms of how society view them is that they are incompetent but the man by just being a male gender is seen as competent until they prove that they are incompetent.

“A woman starts by being incompetent until she has proved as being competent.

“But that is why I disagree with Hajia for that assertion because that is reinforcing the same ideas that has totally discriminated us as women in society.” She argued that women cannot achieve what they intend to achieve in terms of absolute priority in their presentation in politics. By Nana Afrane Asante & Ewurama Smith.