Ghanaian media personality, Gifty Anti, says he has never advised women to stay away from marriage. According to her, in all her advocacies for women’s empowerment, she has never downplayed the relevance of marriage or urged her fellow women to abandon their relationships. Speaking in an interview with JoyNews’ Paa Kwesi Schandorf on Wednesday, she explained that even though marriage is important, her emphasis has been that women should not see marriage as the ultimate indicator of success.
She said many women have been oriented to see marriage as what makes them complete; a view she insisted should be completely discarded. “I dare anybody till today to bring a tape where I’ve said or somewhere I’ve written that marriage is not good [and] that I don’t want women to get married. What they will tell you is that that is the perception they got. That’s the impression they got”, the ace broadcaster stressed.
“Consistently, I’ve talked about the fact that marriage is not what will make a woman achieve her goals or become somebody. You need to know who you are. And I’ve spoken in churches over and over again and told the young ladies that if you’re desperate for marriage, you’ll be desperate throughout the marriage.
I’ve told them to prepare themselves to know who they are. To have their own identity before they get into marriage”, she added. Gifty Anti’s comments come in the wake of a recent Facebook post by the spokesperson of the Education Ministry, Kwasi Kwarteng, who accused her of destroying young women who listened to her feminism sermons in the past.
According to Mr. Kwarteng, her audience who heeded her advice on women’s empowerment began the unhealthy competition with men which collapsed their homes and marriages. In his post on Wednesday, he said the former news anchor inspired her followers to shun marriage and focus on their careers; only to later do the opposite.
In Mr. Kwarteng’s view, this constitutes a ‘betrayal’ which Gifty must correct by teaching women to balance their career aspirations with other vital aspects of their lives. But reacting to this, the ace broadcaster said she will not respond to the spokesperson of the Education Ministry and other social media critics regarding her views on feminism. According to the avowed feminist, even though she is passionate about the empowerment of women, she will not respond to her social media critics.
Speaking to JoyNews’ Paa Kwesi Schandorf, she stated that she stands by her assertion that men fear women with power, but won’t respond to critics on social media. “I’m sure you’ve read the story [and] you’ve listened to the tape.
I will not answer to anybody who attacks me on social media. If I want to, I will go there and do it. But if you as a very good journalist, a seasoned one has questions for me, I will answer. But I will not react to anything that anybody said about me on social media”, she said.
She added “This gentleman [Kwasi Kwarteng] is not the only one to have reacted. A lot of other guys have and some women as well. So I will not respond to this gentleman. Even if the President had written that on social media, I wouldn’t have responded in any interview. People hide behind social media and so all sorts of things”.
Background
It will be recalled that over a decade ago, Gifty Anti began a series of spirited advocacies calling on women to focus on their career goals instead of yielding to demands for them to get married.
On television, radio and other platforms, she stressed the need for women to put more emphasis on personal excellence instead of responding to the pressure to marry and raise children. This was widely embraced by a lot of her followers who subsequently praised her resilience in combating patriarchy. At conferences and other public fora, she was hailed for helping bring women into the limelight.
A few years after this wave, Gifty Anti got married to the Chief of Akwamu Adumasa, Nana Ansah Kwao IV. Their colourful union happened at the Trinity Baptist Church on 25th October 2015. In what was hailed as a ‘royal wedding’, the two broadcasters were celebrated for days across both traditional and social media, amidst tons of congratulatory messages.
However, a section of the public took exception to Gifty’s marriage, accusing her of backing down on her initial ideals. According to her critics, it was disingenuous for her to get married after expressing so much hate and dislike for men. This position is what Mr. Kwarteng re-echoed in his Facebook comments on Wednesday. Meanwhile, some individuals have thrown their weight behind Mr. Kwarteng’s criticisms; describing it as valid.
According to them, the broadcaster deceived the public with her advocacies. Others have, however, disagreed with Kwasi Kwarteng’s assertions, describing them as baseless attacks.
https://soundcloud.com/joynews_adomnews/i-have-never-said-women-should?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fjoynews_adomnews%252Fi-have-never-said-women-should
Source: Paa Kwesi Schandorf
