<<Print>>

A Relationship Expert and Marriage Counselor, Reverend Mrs. Catherine Onwiodoukit, has entreated female students not to undermine their womanhood and allow themselves to be used as sex materials by men, because of financial and material benefits.

Mrs Onwiodoukit said men respected women who had integrity and dignity and, therefore, challenged women to value their sexuality so that they would be a force to reckon with in all spheres of life.

She gave the advice at a forum held at the Takoradi Polytechnic to mark a week-long celebration of SRC Women's Commission.

The Counselor said women were unique, with potentials like their male counterparts to achieve success, therefore they must not accept mediocrity as the best option, but rather use their intellect and God-given talents to accomplish their dreams and aspirations in life.

The event was held on the theme: ”Nurturing Women to become industrialists and resourceful,” attracted both female and male students of the polytechnic to the school’s auditorium.

She entreated women to be creative, industrious and innovative, in all their dealings, so that they would become assets to their husbands and society at large. the students to cut ties with friends with bad influence, and rather work closely with those who had better prospects in life.

“You should believe in yourself even when nobody believes in you because you are the carrier of your own vision therefore develop a niche for yourself and business activities to make you unique from others”, she stressed.

Rev. Mrs. Onwioduokit noted that for someone to become resourceful, there was the need to follow his/her passion with determination, do self-identification and accentuation, overcome cultural limitations, and take bold action geared towards accomplishing one’s aspirations in life.

She said most successful people were those who earned about four streams of income and, therefore, challenged the students to adopt pragmatic approaches in creating opportunities in life.

The Women’s Commissioner for Takoradi Polytechnic, Ms. Esther Eshun, advised polytechnic graduates not to idle about after school, but must rather be creative to create jobs for themselves and eventually employ others.

She said women were unique, and must therefore not to allow themselves to be intimidated and shy away from their responsibilities, but must strive to make meaningful impact on humanity.

Mr. Raymond Danso, South Western Sector Manager of Marie Stopes International Ghana, entreated students to seek sexual reproductive and health services from the Centre, since it offered counseling, scanning and laboratory test for clients.

He said the Centre had offices in all 22 districts in the Western Region, and had been providing services to both adults and adolescents on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), family planning methods and sexual reproductive services.

Mr. Danso observed that due to ignorance on the part of most teenagers, they used various unorthodox methods to treat STIs and abort unwanted pregnancies and that often resulted in complications.

He said the Centre was available to provide the sexual reproductive needs of both married persons and teenagers who were sexually active to ensure good health and productivity.

The SRC Women’s Commission has lined up activities, including cooking competition, breast cancer screening, movie night and a donation to an orphanage, as part of the week-long celebration.