Actress and Broadcaster Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku has called for an extension of the three-month maternity leave granted to mothers.

“In my ideal Ghana, maternity leave will be extended beyond three months while paternity leave will also be granted”, she said.

Naa Ashorkor was taking her turn on the top ten series on Springboard, your virtual university, Ghana’s foremost developmental broadcast hosted on radio and online by Rev. Albert Ocran.

Using her personal experiences, she shared her own struggles as a mother and a young professional, “It took me more than a year to recover physically when I had my first child. The mental adjustment required even more time.”

She empathized with young breastfeeding mothers who sometimes have to leave their babies with security personnel and carers at nurseries to be able to make it work on time. 

She suggested that organisations could meet young parents halfway in solving this issue, “Nurseries at workplaces must be compulsory, especially for larger organizations”, she proposed.

Naa Ashorkor also touched on workplace productivity and challenged employees to contribute their quota to the success of their organisations. She suggested that work-life balance was possible if people focused their attention on what they were doing at any point in time.

“We must all be a little more present. Don’t be at work and constantly be on the phone talking about home and vice versa. Don’t come home and spend all your time on PowerPoint presentations. Don’t be absent-minded at church. Enjoy every moment to the full and make your contribution.

Springboard, your virtual university airs every Sunday at 7 pm GMT on Joy FM and online and subsequently on Joy Prime television. “My Top Ten” is a popular series on the broadcast that captures the top five lessons or principles in the lives of accomplished people in various fields and their five prescriptions for an ideal Ghana.

Listen to the #MyTopTen conversation with Naa Ashorkor on Spotify, Apple podcast, or Google podcast.