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Working group discusses draft instruction

The IEA Affirmative Action Working Group. Also in the picture is Dr John Kwakye, Senior Economist of the IEA (middle)The White Paper on the Constitution Review Commission's (CRC) Report presented to the President in July last year highlights Gender Balance in Appointments to Public Office under Issue Three.

The document indicated that “Government is commitment to the principle of affirmative action towards the achievement of the constitutional objectives of national integration and equal treatment of all Ghanaians (Article 35) and regional and gender balance in pubic appointments (Article 3.5 (6) (b)).

It said the government, therefore, accepts the CRC’s recommendation for a constitutional amendment for Parliament to enact within 12 months of the coming into force of the Amendment of the 1992 Constitution an Affirmative Action Act that guarantees 30 per cent representation of men and women in all public institutions and offices in as far as it is practicable.

Affirmative Action is a set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex or national origin. It refers to steps taken to not only eliminate discrimination in employment, housing, education or governance, but also to redress the effects of past discrimination.

Underlying motive

The underlying motive for affirmative action is the principle of equal opportunity, which holds that all persons have the right to equal access to self-development.

Affirmative action is thus the attempt to make opportunities available to those distinguished by their minority or under-represented status. Some groups, who are targeted for affirmative action, are characterised by gender, ethnicity, or disability status.

Although affirmative action is an attempt to redress the imbalance that undeniably exists, it has many opponents. Criticisms (and in some cases legal decisions) have been brought against such efforts both in terms of the underlying principles, such as quotas and the use of characteristics such as race or gender in application processes ("reverse discrimination"), and in failures to implement the programmes effectively.

In 1998, Ghana made an attempt at remedying the situation with the drafting of the Affirmative Action Policy guidelines with targets for women’s representation in advisory and decision making bodies for implementation by all sectors of the economy. This, however, has not made any significant impact as the guidelines lack the necessary legal backing to enforce its provisions.

It is in this regard that the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, now the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Affairs, in consultation with political parties, Members of Parliament, civil society organisations, people in the academia, consultants, legal practitioners, the private sector and other professionals from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), have set in motion the review of the Affirmation Action Policy Guidelines of 1998 for incorporation into law. 

In Ghana, women’s participation in public life has remained low since independence. Women’s participation in parliament, for instance, has ranged from 9.6 per cent at independence in 1957 to 8.7 per cent in 2008. In between, the figure has fluctuated, peaking at 18.2 per cent in 1965 and a little over 10 per cent in 2004.

The number of women in the 275-member parliament is 30.

UN threshold

In the Executive, Judiciary, local government and bodies set up under the constitution, the number of women’s representation shows that Ghana is well below the UN threshold of 30 per cent women representation.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Ghana), in partnership with the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), has initiated the IEA Affirmative Action Working Group. The mandate of the group falls under the IEA/EPD Project: “Fighting Under-Representation of Women in the Political Decision-Making Process”. The project dubbed: Integrated Support Programme for Inclusive Reform and Democratic Dialogue (INSPIRED), seeks to contribute to increasing the number of women in political decision making through the processes of political pluralism, inclusiveness and participation.

The working group, along with the stakeholder group, will champion efforts towards the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill, which has been prepared by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

An inaugural roundtable discussion on the project was organised for the working group in Accra on June 26 and 27 and the participants were given an overview of what is termed as the “Draft Instructions of the Affirmative Action Bill”. They also reviewed the draft instructions, looked at the strengths and weakness and made recommendations for strengthening the draft instructions.

The Rector of the Law Institute,  Ms Hilary Gbedemah, said discussions on the proposed bill was situated within the contest of international conventions, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1992 Constitution.

Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah, Executive Director, Gender Centre, said it was obvious the understanding of Affirmative action varied and that wound also affect expectation and indicated that there was the need to create awareness and gather public support.

The Executive Director of ABANTU for Development, Ms Rose Mensah Kutin, who moderated, said affirmative action was a contested issue, adding that in Ghana, affirmative action could be made on three broad grounds—necessity, legal obligation and benefits/value.

By Salomey Donkor/Ghana

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