The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has reportedly intensified advocacy for the passage of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Bill without any further delay.
According to a story we have carried at our centre pages today, the mission of CDD-Ghana is to promote democracy, good governance and inclusive development and believes this mission cannot be achieved without the majority of the population (women) participating effectively in governance, policy processes, as well as economic and social life.
At a state holder forum organised in Kumasi over the weekend, CDD-Ghana and Affirmative Action Bill Coalition said Ghana is a signatory and thus rectified many progressive policies, international treaties, charters and legal instruments by the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other regional bodies, yet women continue to be marginalised in political processes and face numerous challenges in their efforts to access political positions.
Ms Reginald Amanfo Tetteh of CDD-Ghana, addressing the forum argued that women’s political representation in Ghana has been abysmal as they hold only 40 seats (14.5%) of the 275members in the current Parliament, where men continue to hold the majority of the seats.
She indicated that the current situation is far below that of the African average of 24% even when there had been anincrease of 1.5% of women in Parliament between 2016 and 2021.
According to her, the situation is even worse at the local government level where only 216 out of the over 6,000 are women.
She suggested that in order for Ghana to achieve the goal of becoming a more inclusive state with equal opportunities for all, it is very important and urgent to address its human rights gaps to enable more women in government and leadership roles to serve as role model for future generations of young people.
Since advocacy work is part and parcel of every democratic set up, The Chronicle is not faulting the CDD–Ghana and its partners for the time they are spending on this particular issue.
Indeed, women constitute the majority of our population and if, despite this advantage, they are being discriminated against when it comes to political participation, we will support any Institution that will fight for Ghanaian woman.
The Chronicle, however, thinks these advocacy groups are not addressing the fundamental issue – which is lack of interest being shown in our governance process by women in this country.
Per our culture, women are supposed to be under the control of men. Because of this cultural mentality, women are generally not interested in competing against their male counterparts. The situation has even been exacerbated by the way we do politics in this country – insulting people without any cause.
In our respected view, therefore, what the advocacy groups must do is to demystify this cultural barrier by encouraging women to actively participate in the governance process of the country.
Reference is being made of the number of women in our current parliament, but the big question is: how many women participated in the primaries organised by both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)?
If the women are not participating in these primaries, how then do we turn round to cry foul about their low numbers in the legislative house?
Everyone is avoiding the elephant in the room and just skirting around the real problem. We dare say that no legislation will result in more women in parliament if they themselves are not ready to get involved in politics.
