More female MPs needed in Parliament
In a country where women constitute over 16 million, which is more than half of the population, it is only logical that they are represented well in the Legislature.
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Unfortunately, that is not the case in Ghana’s Parliament.
Only 40 out of the 275 members of Parliament (MPs) are women, a development which undermines the ability of women to participate in the decision and law-making process in the country.
The few number of women in the Parliament of Ghana presents little opportunity for women to express their interests and opinions compared with their male counterparts.
The parliamentary procedures of our Parliament give men some advantage over women, albeit unintentionally, because they are far more than women and also due to the lack of parliamentary leadership positions for female MPs.
Occupying a leadership position is a strong determiner of who gets to speak during plenary.
The presumption here is that Ghanaian female MPs have little opportunity to introduce and discuss issues affecting women for the purposes of public policy and substantive representation of women.
The current situation is a source of concern to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, who has thus suggested the creation of quotas to represent strategic groups and minorities in Parliament.
He explained that apart from the geographic constituencies, there could be quotas for minority groups to allow them to be part of decision-making.
Paradoxically, Ghana was one of the first countries in Africa to introduce a quota in 1959.
The Convention People’s Party government passed the Representation of the People (Women Members) Act and ensured the nomination and election of 10 women to Parliament.
It has adopted various international conventions on women’s rights and political representation, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Beijing Platform for Action, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol.
Another important milestone was the 1998 ‘administrative directive’ on affirmative action which provided guidelines for the Electoral Commission to encourage political parties to put up more female candidates in pursuit of 40 per cent representation of women in Parliament.
However, that has not been implemented.
The state has committed to using temporary affirmative action measures as some of the means of straightening the path to gender equality by signing and ratifying all major international, continental and regional women’s rights conventions and protocols.
Ghana has made some strides but the road to social equality has been slow and gender disparities continue to plague the system.
Gender discrimination is a significant problem and gender-conscious affirmative action mechanisms are needed to correct the imbalances.
Ghanaian women stand on the fringes of national affairs confronted by centuries of entrenched patriarchy, dogmatic religious dictates, traditional and cultural subordination and autocracy which need to be de-emphasised.
There is a general consensus among some women that politics is dirty which is why they tend to stay away.
Decision-making in the public and political sphere is seen as the preserve of men, as such women who attempt to participate are seen as insolent.
Women are not able to exercise their freedom of speech due to certain traditions that prohibit them from talking at certain places.
Cultural norms define what women can and cannot do in the social, political, religious and economic settings, and that has become an obstacle to women’s participation in decision-making processes.
The Daily Graphic applauds the efforts of women’s rights’ advocacy groups such as Abantu for Development and others for championing women’s political representation.
The battle over affirmative action in Ghana is still ongoing but the processes of gender participation and constitutional change seem to be taking place slowly.
Donor organisations and development partners should make women’s political representation part of the policy dialogue, in line with strategic priorities on gender parity.
They may set aside some funds for initiatives on women’s political representation – for example, electoral financing of female candidates.
Political parties must institute policies to address different forms of violence against women in politics – from verbal abuse to physical attacks – especially during election periods.
As a nation, we must be deliberate about increasing women’s representation in Parliament.
We cannot be passive and fold our arms into believing that the numbers will just increase over time.
