Women in Academia
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Elizabeth A. Addo (Mrs.)

Mrs Elizabeth A. Addo is a 50 year old Presbyterian woman who hails from Akropong in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She is married with two children, a boy and a girl. She is the Headmistress of Ebenezer Secondary School doing administrative work which includes checking teacher’s attendance, providing teaching and learning aids, supervisory work for both teaching and non-teaching staff, attending meetings, accounting for funds and general administrative work.

She attended University of Education (Winneba) where she obtained a Bachelor of Education in Arts. She is a board member of Emmanuel Presby Church and a member of the human resource commitee of the same church.

In regards to challenges in her work, she mentioned that the school has no accommodation facilities for the staff including the headmistress and the computer laboratory is too small for the student population although the school has vast unused land in its confinement. During invitations to programmes and sporting activities the school has to hire a bigger bus to convey students since the school's bus takes only twelve (12) people making it add up to the challenges she faces. In addition, due to the recent computer selection system some students from far places enrole therefore, the school needs hostels to accommodate them on campus. She is therefore calling on all stakeholders to put their heads together and come to the aid of the school.

Her inspiration comes from her Maker from whom she seeks guidance for her life every morning. Her husband has been very supportive in the sense that she discusses some of the challenges in her work with him and he helps her come up with ideas as to how to go about solving them. Mrs Thompson, former headmistress of Ebenezer Secondary School, who is now on retirement is someone she draws a lot of inspiration from.

She is looking forward to a future where she would move to the highest level in her career by moving on to serve at the district, regional and national (headquarters) levels in the Ghana Education Service (GES). She also wishes that before her term of office would be over, she would be able to make Ebenezer one of the first class schools. The school she said is known for their good sports performance but the problem lies in academics. In this regard, the school runs orientation programmes for fresh students to educate them on the potentials in them to make it.

She wants her children to be well educated in order to secure good jobs and be responsible citizens. She hopes to see a Ghana with a female president to portray the effectiveness of women leadership. She again cited the fact, that women are now in various sectors and are contributing meaningfully to the country's economy, as a step in the right direction thus when given the chance to be presidents they can perform creditably.