International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies

Ensuring the Central Role of Women in Development
Daasebre Prof. (Emeritus) Oti Boateng

Abstract
The paper considers the problem of ensuring the central role of women in development and proposes a practical and creative process of empowering women as key to assuring their full integration in the development process. The strategy utilizes the award-winning root-based sustainable model that places communities at the centre of the development process as dignified agents of their own development. Within the root-based institutional framework (Boateng, 2015), independent Women’s Organizations are created to ensure that women are empowered and well-equipped to assume leadership and other strategic roles at the community, national and international levels. The robust root-based networking mechanism ensures that all the women’s organizations are interlinked to work together and use the power of shared ideas and information to promote the empowerment of women holistically at all levels. Of central importance is a newly developed and unique four-phased process of empowering women which provides the established women organizations with a solid blueprint to guide their operations. Comprehensive details of this foundational process are provided in the paper. The practical lessons embodied in the paper are expected to contribute not only to ensuring the central role of women in the development process but also in creating a lifelong and transformative society where both genders can flourish in peace.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v4n2a2