GRi Arts & Culture 28 –01 - 2000 

Songs must portray positive side of women, lecturer

Accra (Greater Accra), 28^th January 2000

Professor Takyiwaa Manuh, a lecturer of the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, on Thursday called on musicians to compose songs that portray the positive side of women.

She expressed regret that most of the songs and programmes on radio and television depict women as "dangerous and negative" in their thoughts.

The lecturer was speaking at a forum organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), an NGO, to sensitise the public on the need to promote women's right of free expression.

The forum, under the topic, "cultural limitations to women's expression", and funded by the Danish Embassy forms part of MFWA's programme on women's right to express their thoughts without fear of intimidation.

Professor Manuh called on advertising companies to stop using females as "cooks and washers", whilst men enjoy the fruits of their labour.

"Certain aspects of our culture, which frown on the exercise of their right of expression, create a low visibility for the role women play in society.

"It is time such cultural practices are condemned or reviewed to allow women to exercise their right of free expression."

Mrs. Angela Aboagye of Arc Foundation, an NGO, which provides legal aid for women victims of violence, urged women to challenge and question societal structures that demean them.

GRi