Ghana prides itself as a democratic country and many development partners are keen on working with the government, state institutions and the private sector, to promote the development of the country.
This interest has particularly been rekindled by the country’s ability to hold successful elections, especially between years 2000-2008.
Another yardstick used to assess the extent of democratisation in a given country is the extent of inclusiveness.
The indicators often applied include extent of commitment to the promotion of gender equality, ability of different socio–economic groups to participate effectively in governance processes and the extent of national integration among various ethnic groups.
Indeed Ghana itself recognises the importance of the above elements and has put specific language and provisions in the 1992 constitution to ensure that they are taken into account in the democratisation process.
While the country has made a lot of progress on many of the issues listed in the constitution on the promotion of human rights, when it comes to the participation of women in politics and in decision–making, there is much more to be done.
Promoting women in public life means that political structures should operate in a way that empowers women to have a voice and contribute to nation building. Indeed it has been established that the high presence of women in parliament can help improve the quality of debates and policy making.
Recognising this, the UN has established the minimum representation of women as 30 per cent.
In Ghana women themselves have demonstrated a keen interest in contesting for parliamentary seats and this grew steadily from 1992 to the year 2008, when the interest moved beyond 100%.
In actual representation as well, there has been a steady growth from 8% in 1992 to 11% in 2004.
Sadly, this slow increase suffered a reversal in the 2008 elections with a decrease in parliamentary representation to 8.6%. In actual numbers, women’s representation has lowered from 25 in 2004 to 20 in the year 2008 in a parliament of 230 seats.
This is an unacceptable trend which has to be addressed if women are to contribute effectively to the democratic development effort.
That is why the Ghanaian Times is gratified by the commitment of the political parties in Ghana to work towards putting in place mechanisms for increasing women’s representation at all levels of their party structures.
Specifically, they have agreed to field women at a minimum of 30 per cent to enhance their chances of winning parliamentary seats.
At a recent high level workshop by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) with support by the Canadian High Commission, the political parties signed onto a communiqué which can have far reaching consequences on the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality if it is implemented with all the commitment it deserves.
As published in our paper of Thursday, July 2, 2009 the communiqué among others stipulates that the political parties have committed to the implementation of affirmative action to address the imbalances in representation.
They have also agreed “ to establish a voluntary quota of 30 per cent for women in the administration of political parties, selection of parliamentary candidates and in the appointment of District Chief Executives in addition to special measures by the Executive in the short term and to initiate and support the passage of specific legislation on a mandatory quota system in the medium to long term.”
We are confident that women activists will seize upon this commitment and work assiduously with other stakeholders to hold the political parties accountable to their own commitment as stipulated in the communiqué.
The IEA must be commended for supporting the work of women’s rights organisations through using its platform with political parties to raise such an important issue as women’s participation in politics and decision making.
We fully support this important initiative and urge the political parties to use this commitment to work on gender issues as a critical component of their party ideology, vision, systems, structures and procedures.
In so doing, the political parties will be seen as truly democratic and inclusive.
This interest has particularly been rekindled by the country’s ability to hold successful elections, especially between years 2000-2008.
Another yardstick used to assess the extent of democratisation in a given country is the extent of inclusiveness.
The indicators often applied include extent of commitment to the promotion of gender equality, ability of different socio–economic groups to participate effectively in governance processes and the extent of national integration among various ethnic groups.
Indeed Ghana itself recognises the importance of the above elements and has put specific language and provisions in the 1992 constitution to ensure that they are taken into account in the democratisation process.
While the country has made a lot of progress on many of the issues listed in the constitution on the promotion of human rights, when it comes to the participation of women in politics and in decision–making, there is much more to be done.
Promoting women in public life means that political structures should operate in a way that empowers women to have a voice and contribute to nation building. Indeed it has been established that the high presence of women in parliament can help improve the quality of debates and policy making.
Recognising this, the UN has established the minimum representation of women as 30 per cent.
In Ghana women themselves have demonstrated a keen interest in contesting for parliamentary seats and this grew steadily from 1992 to the year 2008, when the interest moved beyond 100%.
In actual representation as well, there has been a steady growth from 8% in 1992 to 11% in 2004.
Sadly, this slow increase suffered a reversal in the 2008 elections with a decrease in parliamentary representation to 8.6%. In actual numbers, women’s representation has lowered from 25 in 2004 to 20 in the year 2008 in a parliament of 230 seats.
This is an unacceptable trend which has to be addressed if women are to contribute effectively to the democratic development effort.
That is why the Ghanaian Times is gratified by the commitment of the political parties in Ghana to work towards putting in place mechanisms for increasing women’s representation at all levels of their party structures.
Specifically, they have agreed to field women at a minimum of 30 per cent to enhance their chances of winning parliamentary seats.
At a recent high level workshop by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) with support by the Canadian High Commission, the political parties signed onto a communiqué which can have far reaching consequences on the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality if it is implemented with all the commitment it deserves.
As published in our paper of Thursday, July 2, 2009 the communiqué among others stipulates that the political parties have committed to the implementation of affirmative action to address the imbalances in representation.
They have also agreed “ to establish a voluntary quota of 30 per cent for women in the administration of political parties, selection of parliamentary candidates and in the appointment of District Chief Executives in addition to special measures by the Executive in the short term and to initiate and support the passage of specific legislation on a mandatory quota system in the medium to long term.”
We are confident that women activists will seize upon this commitment and work assiduously with other stakeholders to hold the political parties accountable to their own commitment as stipulated in the communiqué.
The IEA must be commended for supporting the work of women’s rights organisations through using its platform with political parties to raise such an important issue as women’s participation in politics and decision making.
We fully support this important initiative and urge the political parties to use this commitment to work on gender issues as a critical component of their party ideology, vision, systems, structures and procedures.
In so doing, the political parties will be seen as truly democratic and inclusive.
