The General Secretary of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) has urged the management of institutions to encourage and support women at the workplace into leadership positions.

Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi speaking at a post-International Women’s Day Celebration organised by the Union at the PUWU Hospitality and Conference centre at Kasoa in the Central Region said promotions at the workplace should not always be left to competition among staff.

According to Mr Nyantakyi, management must begin to target women who possess leadership qualities and give them a push to reach decision making levels.

“It should not always be that it is always through competition that we get women at the decision making level at the workplace. Sometimes we should do some targeting and mentoring to raise certain leaders who have the potential especially the females.

"Most often because of our socio-cultural inhibitions, a lot of women will need some more encouragement and management should also positively take proactive steps to raise women to higher levels”, he said.

Mr Nyantakyi said it is unfortunate that in certain institutions, the higher one travels, the lesser the number of women holding leadership positions are seen at the top.

He, therefore, indicated that there has to be a collective approach by stakeholders to change the narrative.

“You go to so many institutions and as you get to the top, it is hard to see women at the decision-making table.

"These are things that do not work very well. We need to do practical activities and specific interventions to bring up a lot of women towards the decision-making table,” Mr Adumatta Nyantakyi reiterated.

When asked whether he supports the introduction of quota systems at the workplace, the General Secretary said he does not see anything wrong with the introduction of quota systems that are also competitive at the workplace.

“I think as a way of raising the level of women’s involvement, I do not see anything wrong introducing a quota system that is even competitive such that we set a certain quota but among that quota should be women who are competing for those. So we will still get quality and it will increase the level of women’s involvement”, he explained.