Ghanaian women, especially women in leadership positions, have been urged to exert their competences in their fields of endeavour and collectively work together towards gender parity. Women Networks and Leaders who made the call during a breakfast meeting said very astute women in leadership positions in the society have not been too vocal in championing women's growth and development and are working in silos. The breakfast meeting, first of its kind by the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) Ghana Chapter, seeks to create a platform for women leaders to collaborate and pull resources together towards attaining gender parity and supporting women's growth and development. This is in line with the Beijing Platform for Action which talks about one of the 12 key areas being women and poverty where it states that when women are poor, their rights are not protected and they face double discrimination on account of their gender and economic situation. Madam Angela Asante, Presidential Advisor, Gender and Devel opment, said, the change that women needed to see would come from they themselves when more united in their approach. 'If women are still not in solidarity with one another we might not be able to achieve our common goal. As women let's be genuinely interested in our affairs, let's help ourselves to move forward, let's advocate for opportunities for women,' she said Madam Asante said they must collectively put their voices together and operate in a way to scale up gender equality and empowerment. Dr Charity Binka, Chairperson, African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), Ghana Chapter, said 28 years after the Beijing declaration, most women including Ghanaian women, had still been saddled with challenges in areas of human rights, social, financial and economic spheres of life. 'We are still talking about pertinent issues confronting women 28 years after Beijing. There's something we are not doing right. So the women in the financial sector, political space and all sectors of the economy need to work together,' s he said. Dr Binka said women participation at the district level elections (DLE) had been very low but called for support from women groups for those candidates as they pursue the progress of women and society at large. She said the culture and tradition had affected women's development over the years and they needed to team up with academia to conduct research to find out what has changed. Madam Brigitte Dzogbenuku, Executive Director, Mentoring Women Ghana, and 2020 PPP Presidential Candidate, said, she faced being alienated from most Women groups and activities because of her involvement in politics. A situation she deemed as a hindrance to women's progress in the era where politics had become part of human life even in our home, families and society. Source: Ghana News Agency