‘Vote for women contesting in December polls’
The Director of ABANTU for Development, an organisation that advocates for women empowerment, Mrs Rose Mensah-Kutin, has called on Ghanaian women to unite to support women contesting in the December 7 polls, irrespective of their political differences.
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That, she said, was necessary to encourage more women in the country to venture into politics in order to take part in the decision-making process at the various levels.
She made the call at a press conference in Accra on the theme, “Increasing women’s presence in decision-making: The role of the electorate.’’
Mrs Mensah-Kutin encouraged women to vote for their fellow women contesting for positions in the various constituencies in order to close the gender gap, stressing, “We should not bother about who is an NDC candidate, NPP candidate or a CPP candidate, we should vote for who can serve the country.’’
Unity
The Residence Country Director of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Mr Fritz Kopsieker, said for women to be well represented in the political system, they should be united.
“Women need to stand together in spite of belonging to different political parties and they need to support one another,’’ he said.
According to Mr Kopsieker, females contesting for parliamentary seats should be voted for by women especially, as a way of encouraging gender equality in the decision-making process.
“The fact that another woman from a different political party is contesting, should not prevent other women from voting for her,’’ he said.
Voters
Mr Kopsieker, therefore, encouraged voters to re-examine the criteria for making choices during elections, and also asked political parties to re-examine their internal policies about who was qualified to be a good, successful and potential candidate, to receive the necessary support from the party.
He encouraged husbands, fathers, mothers, and other relatives to support their female relatives who had entered into politics as a means of encouraging them.
He said women who had made it to higher positions should prove themselves by coming out with their best in governance and stressed, “It is not enough to occupy leadership positions without performing.’’
Capacity of women
In her presentation, Madam Susan Aryeetey of the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), maintained that the gender gap in decision-making limited the capacity of women to have their voices heard and to have their issues effectively addressed in parliament.
She said in order to increase electoral vote for women, the media should be able to send information related to women’s involvement in election to citizens.
Madam Aryeetey, therefore, called on the media to do their best by ensuring that the electoral processes were well covered during elections, and also encouraged the various media houses to use the local languages so that the citizens would be well informed about the electoral processes.
She said increasing the participation of women in Parliament, would ensure that effective consideration was given to issues concerning both men and women with regard to the interest of the country’s entire population.
