Former parliamentary candidate aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Yendi Constituency of the Northern Region, Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah has recounted how Gender stereotyping affected her campaign.
She is advocating that people look beyond gender but rather focus on the capabilities of individuals in certain positions in pursuit of development.
According to her, in this time and age, the focus should be on the ability of the person to deliver, his or her track record and not on sexuality indicating in other parts of the world it is no longer grounds for determining who is fit to occupy a particular position.
Speaking to Motion TV in a recent interview monitored by Ashantibiz, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC).
“It is high time people from the north depart from the issue of gender stereotyping and focus on one’s capabilities. But dwelling on a man or woman is not the best. It really affected me in my campaign. I can tell you that my husband and I know how we conducted our campaign in the face of this. Many people at the national level of the party had written me off long before the race because I was a woman. Many thought they would be wasting their resources in supporting me because I was a woman. They use that propaganda that Yendi Constituency is not ready for a female MP and even went far as telling President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that once I was a woman it was impossible to win the race and retain the seat for the NPP”, she lamented.
She urged residents to veer from the issues of gender and be centered on who has the capacity to deliver adding that there are some men who may not be able to meet the mark citing the likes of Hajia Alima Mahama and the late Hawa Yakubu as political heavyweights whose footprints in the political landscape in the north remain visible.
Ashantibiz
