The Issues
In spite of the increasing promise and potential in Africa, the continent still faces some formidable challenges in its efforts to improve the standards of living for all of its peoples. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world's poorest region with the health of Africans remaining the worst in the world; HIV/AIDS pandemic is continuing to widen; political instability still presents tremendous risk; continued high population growth rates worsens the level of poverty; and access to education grows worse each decade.
African women are often on the receiving end of these overwhelming social issues in Africa; civil war and conflict resolution, inadequate health and human services, HIV/AIDS, poverty and malnutrition, economic instability and corruption. Like many parts of the world, African women live in conditions of deprivation of, and attacks against, their fundamental human rights because of their gender. Though they confront a myriad of problems in gaining access to the most basic opportunities and resources, they are often excluded from participating in developing solutions or policies that can help them maximize their potential and empower them to contribute to Africa's development.
African women's ability to engage and participate in addressing challenges and difficulties in their lives is obstructed by use of their reproductive status to exclude them and by gender-biased structures and institutions that are systematic and widely tolerated by society.
Research conducted by Moremi Initiative shows women occupies only two percent of executive positions within the top one hundred companies in the Ghanaian private sector. Moremi Initiative's research (Dake & Herlands 2003: Data on Women in Leadership in Ghana) also shows that in general, women exercise little power in political, economic, and social institutions in Ghana. Specifically, Ghanaian women are under represented in leadership positions relative to their participation at the middle and bottom levels in society.
Moremi Initiative has identified five key obstacles to increasing African women’s representation in leadership:
1) systemic structures that limit African women's access to leadership positions;
2) gap in capabilities of women to lead and transform their societies;
3) lack of mechanisms to identify and nurture leadership skills in girls;
4) lack of intergenerational mentoring and linkages that provides a support network for emerging female leaders and
5) a lack of readily available public information about existing African women leaders and accomplished professionals.
As a result of these and other injustices, the majority of African women are stuck in cycles of dependency that leave them vulnerable to discrimination, poverty, and HIV/AIDS.
African development can only result from full integration and engagement of qualified women in socio-political problem solving. In order to change these inequalities, more women are needed in leadership positions all over Africa to advance education and advocate for change of deeply rooted beliefs and traditions that discriminate against women.
Moremi Initiative firmly believes that an investment in young women's leadership will provide double dividends to make the world a better place for all. Strategies that seek to improve the lives of girls and women significantly affect at least half the population and potentially go to the core of families and communities. Preparing and equipping young women for transformational leadership requires providing space and opportunities for them to practice and grow as leaders, igniting their passion on key issues that affect their development, equipping them with tools, knowledge and resources and encouraging them to be agents of social change.