Takyiwaa Manuh
Takyiwaa Manuh (born May 1952) is Ghanaian academic and author. She is an Emerita Professor of the University of Ghana, and until her retirement in May 2017, she served as the Director of the Social Development Policy Division, of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She was also the Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana from 2002 to 2009. She is a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Quotes
[edit]- Ghanaian women have served Ghana, They have served in our communities, our mothers, Because we don’t give them names, the home economist, and the human resource managers in our homes who are able to make magic with often very meagre resources.
- [1] Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh talk Interview on qualified women in Ghana.
- Because I like reading, I travelled in my mind and got into the world the book talked about. That gingered my power of imagination and broadened my outlook.
- The competitive spirit among the students in my alma mater encouraged me to work hard all the time.
- Don't only think of succeeding in what you are doing but excel in it and use your position to solve problem.
- [2] Prof. Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh advise to younger ones.
- Higher education is dynamic. Therefore, the kind of skills set needed by our students some two decades ago are not the same as contemporary times.
- [3] Professor Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh, says the nation must constantly review her higher education policies to be in tune with emerging global trends.
- We have a lot of qualified women in Ghana.
- I am pleased with how women are taking over male-dominated roles in society.
- There are a lot of qualified persons in the country, with women not being an exception. It is a positive thing that should be encouraged.
- Last year, there was a hike when we had a trio of female principal officers appointed or come into office at the University of Ghana. This was the first not only for Ghana, but in the world.
- I don’t believe that you would find any institution in the world where concurrently, the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar, the Chancellor, the Chair of Counsel, the Chief Academic Officer and the Legal Counsel are all female.
- Ghana should give women the opportunity to take up prominent roles if the country wishes to experience development.
- Ghanaian women have served Ghana. They’ve served in our communities, our mothers. Because we don’t give them names; the home economist, and the human resource managers in our homes who are able to make magic with often very meagre resources.
- And they have served at the continental and international level; yet, Ghana still lags behind.
- Ghana has underperformed in legislating the Affirmative Action Bill.
- This has resulted in fewer women taking higher positions, since male counterparts who have the power do not want to relinquish it.
- More than sixty percent of the older residents I interviewed in Toronto were fairly settled in their jobs in plants, factories and the service sector. They owned their own homes, and all of them had acquired Canadian citizenship and called themselves Ghanaian-Canadians. While they still maintained links with relatives in Ghana and had gone back several times to visit, they seemed fairly settled into their lives in Canada and were at the stage in their lives when their children were beginning to enter college.
- They were also the people who were active in the various community organizations that they had helped set up. Newer residents consisted of men and women some of whom had previously lived in Nigeria, Gabon or another African country. They had arrived in Canada by way of Italy, Belgium or Holland, often with no valid documents (see also Konadu-Agyemang on “step-wise migration” in this issue).
- It was usual for a man to arrive first and to send for a spouse and children later after establishing himself, although there were also women who had arrived by themselves as autonomous migrants. The former occupations in Ghana of newer residents ranged from petty traders, artisans and schoolteachers to junior civil servants, although there were also a sprinkling of university graduates among them. However in general, newer residents were less educated than the older residents.
- Among the less educated, few desired to further their education, preferring instead to work and save their money. As they saw it, you went to school to acquire skills that would increase your earnings, but you could achieve the same results by working hard and saving your money. Almost all the newer residents I interviewed lived in rented or subsidized accommodation and eschewed home ownership.
