Ghanaian rapper and developmental activist Kwame Nsiah-Apau, popularly known by his stage name Okyeame Kwame, aka the Rap Doctor, has shared his opinion on women taking up leadership roles in governance.

Known for his feminism, the musician has been a strong supporter of women, consistently empowering them to break barriers and take up responsibilities alongside their male counterparts in order to change the narrative of vulnerability in society.

In a recent interview with Nikki Samonas on Joy Prime’s Changes show, he was asked whether he would vote for and advocate for a female party flagbearer to win a presidential contest and take over the government. He confidently said he would gladly do so.

According to him, this is because he considers women to be more empathetic and less likely to engage in the misuse of public funds compared to male presidents.

“If that woman and the man are both equally qualified and they’re equally responsible, I’ll vote for the woman because women usually, not all the time have a bit more empathy and they’re less likely to steal from the state than men,” he said.

However, he said this cannot be generalized, as there is evidence of cases where some female leaders have been involved in the misuse of state resources.

Aside from that, he strongly believes and is convinced that women are naturally caring and possess a motherly instinct to look after people. As such, he believes they are capable of managing the affairs of a nation if given the opportunity to serve as president.

For him, men have a tendency to care more about things than people, which makes him confident that a female president would be capable of leading the country effectively.

“…women come with a lot of love, empathy, sympathy, nurture; they have that motherly thing where they care more about people. Men are inclined to care more about things as Jordan Peterson said. So, I think a women president will be dope,” he emphasized.       

His support for women has also led to the release of his new song, titled ‘Big Up’, which he says is dedicated to celebrating women who have contributed to Ghana’s growth in various ways. According to him, these women have not received sufficient recognition for their contributions to the country.

“In the third song of the song ‘Big Up’, I mentioned some five women; Susanna Al-Hassan who was the first female Minister of State in the whole of Africa who also supported Nkrumah during independence, Naa Dedei Ashikishan who was one of the business women in Ghana. Her face is on the 50 pesewas coin; Theodosia Okoh who was an artiste, Mabel Danquah and Ama Nkrumah. These women during the struggle for independence, supported. Some of them went to jail, lost their jobs, they had studied and put their hearts behind the struggle for independence and the beginning of Ghana. But I don’t think that these women are celebrated well enough. There are more of them but I mentioned five in my song.”

Given their enormous contributions to the country’s growth, he suggested that the lives and achievements of such women be studied in schools and that some prominent streets in the country be named after them as meaningful ways of recognizing their contributions.

“I want to see all of them in Social Studies books, I want students to write exams about them. I want young girls to know that we don’t only have the founding fathers, but there are also founding mothers. I want prominent streets named after some of them. I want them to have their own roundabout; the founding mothers roundabout,” he suggested.

He admonished society to promote and celebrate women in the same way men are celebrated, in order to create balance and encourage men to embrace their feminine side, thereby creating more room for empathy.