Speaker laments low representation of women in Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Oquaye has called for reinforcement of women empowerment and the enhancement of equal rights to boost women representation in decision making.

He advocated allocation of seats to women who would like to contest for elections and urged political parties to reserve a quota for women to encourage their participation in politics and governance.

Prof Oquaye made the assertion at the Jophus Anamuah-Mensah Conference Centre, at the University of Education Winneba (UEW) at the International Human Rights Day celebration organised by the Centre for Conflict Resolution, Human Rights and Peace Studies (CHRAPS) of the University.

CHRAPS launched its maiden journal titled ‘Issues in Conflict, Human Rights and Peace’ to mark the celebration which was held on the theme: ‘Stand up for Human Rights’.

Prof Oquaye observed that “the traditional notion of ‘the place of a woman is the kitchen’ or ‘women should take a backstage’ has come a long way to influence our perspectives as a people and this line of thinking should be corrected at all levels, I am also worried about the low representation of women in Parliament, I charge leaders and political activists to play their roles adequately to change that trajectory.”

The Speaker’s presentation touched on prevalent issues such as the rights of children and the vulnerable in society, the imposition of certain foreign practices on Africans by way of gay rights which are not human rights and the threat that if African countries do not comply, economic aid will be cut off.

Prof Oquaye also highlighted on the new world economic order of today which makes Africans continue to be producers of raw materials at the periphery of the global economic order, while the developed nations remain firmly in the curtain of the global order.

Paul Osei-Barimah, the Registrar of UEW, alluded to developments at CHRAPS AND recounted how CHRAPS had transformed as part of the Department of Social Studies Education to be established in the 2015/2016 academic year as an independent centre due to its peculiar subject matter. -classfmonline.com