Mansa Ayisi-Okyere
Ghana
I believe in equality for all based on the basic principle that we are humans and entitled to
equal and just opportunities.
I live and work in Accra, Ghana as a professional events manager. In my line
of work, my main responsibilities lie with planning and overseeing all aspects
of an event from the conception stages to completion. I handle all types of
events from corporate events to social events. It’s a highly pressured job that
requires me to be meticulous, calm and a trouble shooter at any one time
but the reward is seeing the event executed flawlessly. I call myself a feminist
because of my strong beliefs in women’s empowerment and development. I
don’t subscribe to the misguided definition of a feminist as a bra burning, male
hating angry woman. I believe in equality for all based on the basic principle
that we are humans and entitled to equal and just opportunities.
Feminists in Africa today are faced with the institutional and social/cultural
structures that have long been in place to favour men. Although we are seeing
shifts as a result of constant education and sensitizing of people to women’s
value in society and the necessity to give them equal opportunities, we still
have a long way to go to shed inherent societal beliefs. Unfortunately, far too
many of us are actively involved in maintaining inequalities and silence in the
face of women’s oppression and violence. To shift this positively for women,
we need education at all levels that extends beyond women who identify as
feminists, to men, to children and to leaders. We need to infiltrate spaces so
that our vision becomes real.
In my own life, I have a 6 year old daughter and I try to teach her everyday
that being a girl shouldn’t stop her from doing anything she wants to do in life.
I am fortunate because I come from a line of strong Ghanaian