GIVE MORE POWER TO WOMEN (OCT 1)

bridging the gap between men and women in terms of representation in the body politic and other areas of decision-making is a positive step in advancing gender equality in the society.
According to the Women’s Manifesto for Ghana, which is a political document, although women form 51 per cent of the country’s population, meaning that they command the largest electoral vote and play a crucial role in the formation, organisation and electoral victories of political parties, they account for only 10 per cent of people in public office.
Although it was the hope of many gender activists that the various political parties would be influenced by the Affirmative Action policy to choose women to contest the Chereponi seat in the September 29 by-election, the two women who contested the election on the tickets of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) did not obtain enough votes to win the seat.
The outcome of the by-election means that the number of women in Ghana’s 230-member Parliament has reduced to 19 after the passing away of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chereponi, Mrs Doris Asibi Seidu, on August 1, 2009.
The reduction of women’s representation in Parliament is worrying, in view of the fact that the number reduced from 25 in 2004 to 20 in the 2008 elections.
The role of women during the country’s independence struggle and after independence cannot be contested.
Despite the pre-eminence of women in the independence struggle, the Women’s Manifesto maintains that Ghanaian women remain on the fringes of national affairs and are confronted by limited options and formidable social, economic and cultural barriers that place them at a great disadvantage.
We recall a statement made by Mrs Namana before the Chereponi by-election that it would be a credit to women’s development if the people of Chereponi re-elected a woman to replace their deceased MP to continue with her good work which made the electorate retain her.
The United Nations has assessed that a threshold of at least 30 per cent representation is needed in any country for women’s participation in decision-making to be meaningful.
Ghana is, however, far away reaching this goal, since in the last general election, women formed 8.7 per cent of MPs, a situation generally attributed to the lack of political will and commitment by political parties to put women in their safe seats to contest parliamentary elections.
The DAILY GRAPHIC commends the Women’s Manifesto Coalition for collaborating with ABANTU for Development to organise a forum that brought together defeated female candidates in the 2008 parliamentary elections to encourage them to sustain their interest in politics at the community and national levels.
The representation of more than 50 per cent women in the Rwandan Parliament should serve as an impetus for political parties to realise the key role women play in development and the need to promote women’s involvement in politics through public education and sensitisation programmes.
We agree with the convenor of the Women’s Manifesto Coalition, Mrs Hamida Harrison, that the “country needs to put in extra efforts to deal with the existence of strict gender roles and all societal norms that marginalise and undermine women’s abilities to aspire to leadership positions”.