Despite the significant contribution by women to the overall growth of sports, there are far a greater number who have either been relegated to the background, or have simply not shown enough determination.
The Africa Women’s Sports Summit, a brainchild of respected Ghanaian Journalist, Juliet Bawuah, seeks to help write a better narrative and encourage greater female inclusion.
The maiden edition, took place at the Swiss Spirit Alisa Hotel in Ghana’s capital, Accra, and was designed to present a platform for mentorship, while working towards creating conditions that go a long way to help the African woman in sports attain career goals.
“Basically what we are saying is that, it sometimes feels lonely at the top, and even for those at the very base, it is difficult building your way from the ground up,” Founder, Juliet Bawuah said.
“Over the years, I have had people come to me with questions on how to push through to the top. It is not easy but with the right mentorship and guidance, there can always be a way.
“There are so many women in sports who have blazed the trail; they should be ready to tell their stories. We want to be able to build a sustainable base of African women in sports who are resourceful in their respective fields.”
On the response the event received, Juliet adds that:
“We were overwhelmed with the response we had from across the world. We had participants coming in from South Africa, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, DRC, the United Kingdom, and France among others. This was really encouraging for us and fed into the belief we had from the conceptualization of this idea that indeed the African woman in sports is ready to take her place.”
The Summit received huge global endorsements particularly from FIFA Secretary General, Fatma Samoura.
This year’s Speakers included Carol Tshabalala of SuperSport and Premier League TV, who spoke on Starting out and surviving stereotypes.
Ugandan Sports Journalist, Usher Komugisha, spoke on Starting out; to specialize or not? while GHOne TV’s Nana Aba Anamoah spoke on building a powerful media brand. Eva Okyere, a known name in sports journalism in Ghana, and now a Senior Attorney, handled creating a balance while Special Guest Speaker Lucy Quist, also speaking on Reaching Goals.
“We have carefully selected our speakers so that participants will get to benefit from a rich pool of knowledge.
This year’s event was held under the theme: “Take Your Place”.
“This year, we did not only ask the African woman in sports to take her place; we expoed them to prospects that hitherto, they saw as impossible to reach.”
Over the years, Juliet Bawuah has built for herself, an impressive profile. She has done correspondence and punditry appearances on leading global brands including BBC, Aljazeera, and TRT World. She has also worked with GOAL, and Africanews, Euronews’ sister channel.
A dominant name in the sports journalism space in Africa, she has worked with other notable media entities such as Citi FM, TV3, Metro TV and ETV, all in Ghana, and Cafonline of the confederation of African football.
Miss Bawuah is a fellow of the Radio Netherlands Training School and holds a Masters from Cardiff University. She is a 2015 Pearl Media Sports Awards Finalist (Abu Dhabi) and has covered major tournaments including the FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.
She has interviewed big names in administration and leadership in Sports, the two most recent being the FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and her Secretary General, Fatma Samoura.