Media personality Nana Aba Anamoah has advised young women to avoid succumbing to sexual advances from men in exchange for job opportunities or career advancement.
Speaking on 3Music TV, she emphasized that such compromises not only result in women being taken advantage of or exploited but also undermine their dignity and self-respect.
“It’s just that some men think that is how they can exhibit power…If you are a young girl and you are caught up in that situation, I’ll say to you, do not have sex with a man,” the broadcast journalist said.
“One girl told me if ‘I have sex with a man it’s not written on my forehead, nobody will know’. Yes, but it is your dignity. If you want to have sex with a man, have sex with a man but not because there is an opportunity at stake, that is your self-esteem gone,” she added.
Although Nana Aba Anamoah has never experienced a man giving her such an ultimatum in the workplace, she strongly believes that it is in the best interest of any woman in such a situation to not risk it.
Additionally, she noted that the blame cannot be placed on the young women in such situations, as many tend to do.
Addressing the tendency to blame young women for these predicaments, she said “It is not their fault…if you say watch ‘how you carry yourself’ then you are apportioning some blame to the young women. There is an insane man who thinks that ‘this girl, even though she is competent, I must get into her pants before she gets the job.’ So it is not the young woman’s fault,” she said.
Nana Aba Anamoah believes that it is acceptable for women to engage in consensual sexual relationships, but they should never do so because there is an opportunity at stake.
“Of course, you will be confronted with so many challenges that at that point you need the job and the money…However I want to tell every young woman that exchanging sex for a job is not the way to go,” she said.
The Ghana Statistical Service’s Quarterly Labour Statistics for 2022 have laid bare the persistent challenges faced by a significant portion of the population.
Unemployment and food insecurity plagued at least a quarter of a million individuals throughout the entire year, peaking at 330,000 in the second quarter.