Women have been disadvantaged in politics – Dr Darimani

Acting Director of Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), Dr Abdulai Darimani, has said women are disadvantaged in all aspects of Ghana’s social and political living.

According to him, politics is an important part of democratic development as well as participatory governance therefore choices about the methods and directions of national development are preceded by political decisions.

Dr Darimani speaking at the launch of a book titled ‘A Gender Analysis of Political Appointments in Ghana Since Independence’ said, “The current system of decentralization in Ghana and any other part of the world for that matter began with a political decision to cede off some power at the center to local authorities.”

“Political decision is therefore the driver of the entire process of decentralization and development and can be made to exclude key actors in the development process,” he added.

Dr Darimani noted that gender equality is importance in national development especially the decentralization process.

The book’s key objective is to assess efforts by successive governments in mainstreaming gender in politics by examining the gender dimension of political appointments since independence.

Books Dr Darimani believes are stock of reference for our day-to-day personal life, “the conduct of official business as well as short-to long-term planning and development decisions. They provide lessons and data, which are valuable for objective decisions.”