Minority Leader wants more women in Parliament

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu wants the number of seats in Ghana’s parliament increased from 275 to 300, with a reserved number of 25 seats for women.

According to him, the extra 25 seats should reflect the size and strength of the political parties in Parliament and will help encourage women empowerment in the country.

Ghana has made some marginal progress in recent times, with the 2016 election increasing the number of elected women from 30, representing 10.9 percent in 2012 to 37, representing 13.5 percent.

In 2000, the representation of women in parliament was 9.5 percent, 10.8 percent in 2004 and 9.3 percent in 2006.

The UN has noted that, as of June 2016 only 22.8 per cent of all national parliamentarians were women, a slow increase from 11.3 per cent in 1995.

As of June 2017, only two countries had been noted to have 50 percent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda with 61.3 per cent, and Bolivia with 53.1 percent.

Nonetheless, a greater number of countries have reached 30 per cent or more.

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has commented on this issue before saying the country must adopt measures to increase the participation of women in politics.

He said affirmative action could be one of the ways to increase women participation in politics for the country to catch up with the agenda of the all-inclusive government.

Prof Oquaye noted the worldwide ranking of women participation in governance which pegged Ghana at the 143rd position out of 193 countries surveyed.