HELLO

Hello, My name is Collins Agyapong; a transfer student from Ghana in West Africa. Although Art and Women fit into my requirement, I chose it partly because of its impact on society so when I finally saw an opening in the class, I said yes, this is it. I believe that personnel growth is important in relations to both professional and academic goals. There is never a limit for the growth of an individual. The first decade of my professional working life has been in the media as a Broadcaster and in order to continue to contribute to society in this and other areas of interest, I am currently enrolling in the school of arts and sciences and my major is Bio. I would later enroll in medical school and the goal is to remain skillful as a health provider while I contribute my quota in both areas in the long run. Feminism is important in the lives of everyone in today’s world and it fits into my studies and areas of interest in different ways because it seeks to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment and with my already established interest in Broadcasting and that of Medicine, feminism will further inform and enhance my decisions on issues such as the protection of women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault as well as workplace rights, maternity leave, and against forms of discrimination against women which hitherto were not frown upon. In many parts of Africa from where I come, females were not allowed to take leadership roles until not very so long ago. However, one that I still remember and one that has over a century been an inspiration to many in Ghana, is a woman known as Yaa Asantewaa. Among other things, she showed that feminism could propel all of us to take on difficult moments and accomplish great things by defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for not only women but society. Born in 1840, she led her compatriots to fight for the Ashanti Kingdom in the 19th century. She is noted to have addressed a council of men with these famous words: "Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it was in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye and Opoku Ware, Chiefs would not sit down to see their King to be taken away without firing a shot. No one could have dared to speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be true! I must say this: If you, the men of Asante will not go forward, then we will. We, the women will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefield". With that, she took on leadership of the Asante Uprising of 1900, gaining the support of some of the other Asante nobility. Yaa Asantewaa remains a much-loved figure in the courage she showed in confronting injustice and highlighting the importance of encouraging more female leaders in society. Here, she is pictured in her war regalia.