Women’s groups congratulate female parliamentary candidates
Some women-centred advocacy groups, made up of the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), the Women’s Manifesto Coalition (WMC), the Domestic Violence Coalition (DV) and the Women in Law and Development (WiLDAF), have congratulated all the 137 women who contested in the just ended parliamentary election.
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The election saw 37 of the women winning seats to go to the seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
In a joint statement, the advocacy group acknowledged the many challenges and barriers that female candidates had to contend with in a bid to equally contribute towards the socio-economic development of the nation.
The coalition said it had a belief that women’s active participation in politics and decision making could lead to a qualitative difference in the way the country was governed, especially in terms of inclusiveness and equitable management and distribution of national resources.
Systemic limitations
Unfortunately, the coalition said, the existence of numerous structural and systemic limitations continued to hinder women’s progression to leadership positions.
The group recognised that although there had been a nominal increase in the number of women elected to Parliament in the 2016 election over that of the outgoing Parliament, the increase was clearly unreflective of the census-certified 51.2 per cent female population in Ghana.
It said at the current rate of increase in the number of women elected to Parliament, it was highly unlikely that Ghana could attain the minimum UN recommended threshold of 30 per cent requirement that could result in women’s effective engagement in decision making in the next decade.
The group added that the increased levels of women’s engagement in the electoral process including the phenomenal number of women voters was a clear indication of their continuous commitment to equity and inclusiveness in Ghana’s decision-making processes.
Democratic ideals
It said the world was growing more disposed to the expansion of democratic ideals, greater equality, peace and security, adding that “the three coalitions will, therefore, continue to campaign in the post-election period for the immediate passage of the Affirmative Action Law as a concrete distinctive national policy initiative to chart the way forward in the implementation of global, continental and regional commitments in fulfilment of women’s rights and gender equality”.
However, it said in the meantime, “We wish to call on the incoming government and all stakeholders to prioritise gender responsiveness and gender equality in all upcoming ministerial, board, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executive (MMDCE) appointments as well as other public oppointments as a matter of urgency in order to address those processes that continued to perpetuate gender inequalities at all levels, saying this would contribute to enhancing women’s active participation in all decision-making processes in the country.