STATEMENT BY MRS.
ELIZABETH QUARCOR AKPALU, CPP SHADOW
CABINET MEMBER FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN
AFFAIRS, AT THE SIXTH IN THE SERIES OF
“HOW CPP WILL DO IT” HELD AT
PARTY HEADQUARTERS, ASYLUM DOWN
ACCRA, ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2010 AT 10:00AM.
INTRODUCTION:
The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC) was
established in 2001 to promote gender equitable policies and programmes for
Women and Children in Ghana. Since its establishment a lot has been done but a
lot still needs to be done.
The growing poverty, deprivation and exclusion of the rural
and urban poor have disproportionately affected women and children in Ghana.
There is also high incidence of maternal and infant mortality and deaths from
illegal and unsafe abortions as a consequence of inadequacies in reproductive
health facilities and practices. Irrespective of the fact that women constitute
more than 50 % of the population and make meaningful contributions to society,
their voices are not heard.
This is due to the persisting undemocratic political cultures
and processes. Ghana has failed to honour its obligations to the International
Instruments signed such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), The Beijing Platform for Action and its Outcome
Documents (Beijing +5, 10 and15) and other International instruments to promote
gender equality. The results are that decades of efforts at achieving gender
equality and equity have yielded very little.
CURRENT SITUATION:
One in three household s in Ghana (33.6%) has a female head
(GLSS2000).
Though female headship is not synonymous with poverty,
certain characteristics of some female headed households are predisposing
factors to poverty. The quality of employment of the household head appears to
be more important than other households’ characteristics.
According to the World Bank, gender disparities in education
and health are greater among the poor (World Bank 2001).41 % of women as
opposed to 21.1% of men, as ratio of 2:1 has no formal education. Given that
access to most positions in the formal employment sector now require Secondary
or higher formal education, female apprentices have a much narrower range of
training options than men because of gender segregation in artisanal
occupations.
Almost all the apprentices training to be carpenters, masons,
blacksmiths, mechanics, repairs of electrical and electronic appliances,
painters, upholsterer’s car body workers and sprayers, metal workers and
drivers are male. The earning capacities of most of these occupations are
higher than for sewing hairdressing and catering, the three (3) most popular
options for women.
“The biggest enemy of health is poverty” as the UN Secretary
General, Mr. Kofi Annan urged in his address to 2001 World Health Assembly.
Poor women bear an increased burden of disease because of
their lower social status, poor access to education, health and other resources
and harmful cultural practices. Women in Ghana are at a higher risk of dying
from pregnancy related causes of maternal mortality. It is estimated at 214 maternal
deaths per 100,000 live births as compared with 10 maternal deaths per 100,000 live
births in developed countries. The picture is even grimmer for regions with
high levels of poverty in Ghana. In parts of the Northern region it is between
500 maternal deaths to 800 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The
prevalence of HIV&AIDS in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa throw gender
inequalities into sharp focus.
Apart from physiological factors, socio-economic conditions including
gender inequalities are central to the women greater vulnerability to the virus
than men.
Women are often unable to protect themselves from infections and
one of the main reasons associated with this is their inability to negotiate
for safe sex, particularly when economically or socially dependent on their
partners.
Male behaviour arising from their social superiority such as
their ability to have multiple sexual partners across a wide range of age
groups without suffering opprobrium makes them vectors in the spread of
HIV&AIDS (World Population Monitoring, 2001).
In Ghana more than 90% of all AIDS cases are found in people
between the ages of 15-49 and 2/3 of the cases are female (Ministry of Health
2001). The lessons from other countries such as Malaysia and Thailand suggest
that distribution programmes instituted and implemented by the state have been
a critical factor in comprehensive poverty reduction.
It is clear from the foregoing that there are important
gender and regional inequalities in poverty in Ghana. More is needed for
poverty reduction and gender equality,
What the CPP will do to
move the current to the desirable state
In 2007 the NPP government began to implement gender equality
by starting gender responsive budgeting in three sector ministries;
Agriculture, Health and Education. To date, no evaluation of the impact has
been documented. MOWAC under the NDC
government stated that the three sector ministries will be increased to eleven.
The budget is the most important policy tool of every
government that can be used to raise the living standards of the disadvantaged
in society, including women. Increased resource allocation can only be obtained
through the budget process to design policies and implement programmes to
address gaps and inequities that have been identified in various gender
assessments to be the most pertinent issues.
Gender responsive budgeting calls for gender disaggregated
statistical data and information needed for effective programme design and
implementation.
Availability of disaggregated data will facilitate targeting
of programmes to ensure maximum results.
Gender Budgeting at
Sectoral /Departmental level
It is at this level that most of the work of mainstreaming
gender budgeting takes place. From this level influence can be brought to bear
on annual budget decisions taken by the Ministry of Finance.
The CPP will therefore establish Gender Desk Officers (GDOs) as
part of the District Planning Coordinating Unit (DPCU) and the Regional
Planning Coordinating Units (RPCUs). The GDOs working together with the DPCUs
and the RPCUs will collect gender disaggregated data which will help to
identify the inequalities and allow for budgets to be allocated supporting
gender responsive activities and programmes. Currently there are no formal
directives from the Ministries of Local Government and Rural Development and of
Women and Children Affairs making them part of the DPCU.
The bulk of the poor, especially women are engaged in
agriculture food crops, livestock and fisheries. These areas require serious
attention from the state if there is a real commitment to poverty reduction and
gender equality.
The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in its Strategic
Implementation Plan of 2005-2008 stated as its strategic objective to advocate
the passage of the Affirmative Policy of 1998 and operationalize it. Among
MOWAC’s priorities was to formalize and replicate the gender desk officers at
the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembles and provide guidelines for
setting them up in collaboration with district assembles.
Women political participation is central to the democratic
governance. Women constitute half of the world’s population and cannot be
excluded from either participation or representation. Equal participation of
men and women in making decisions is the only way through which women can enjoy
their rights as citizens of a country. Ghana as a country has signed documents
that make it obligatory for government to introduce measures that will increase
the number of women in politics.
Yet, the only form of quota that has ever been introduced in
Ghana is the quota for 10 women the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in 1960 by
Dr Kwame Nkrumah who were elected to special women’s seats. They are Susanna
Alhassan, Ayanori Bukari and Victoria Nyarku (Northern region); Sophia Doku and
Mary Koranteng – (Eastern region); Lucy Anin (Brong –Ahafo region); Regina
Asamany (Volta region); Comfort Asamoah (Ashanti region); Grace Ayensu and
Christiana Wilmot (Western region).
The absence of a legal framework to validate and enforce an
Affirmation Action (AA) Policy as well as the lack of properly thought out,
well coordinated strategy for promoting women participation in public life has
been a major challenge.
The CPP government
will intensify advocacy on AA and push for legislation to make it mandatory for
political parties to implement AA progressively. This will increase the number
of women candidates for district and parliamentary elections as well as all
structures in 2012 and progressively reach the 50 percent required by the AU.
The CPP government will consider electoral reforms and
constitutional amendments to address the gender imbalance. It will also build
consensus between political parties, women themselves, important agencies like
the Electoral Commission and think tanks such as the CDD, IDEG and IEA among
others in preparation for 2012 and beyond.
The winner takes all or the majoritarian electoral system is
a major impediment for women gaining political positions, especially when
compared to proportional representation
systems used around the world.
A CPP government will focus on proposals that advocate
proportional representation with the view to improve the representation of
women across board. To ensure that proportional representation system succeeds
in Ghana, parties should be required by legislation to submit gender balanced
party list and fill seats won with an equal proportion of women. This is where
the political funding law should apply sanctions; my comrade for Political
Affairs will elaborate on this system fully.
Maternal Mortality
The Ghana Maternal Mortality Survey of2008 showed a slow
decline of maternal deaths from 503 per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 451 per
100,000 live births in 2008.With this trend, maternal mortality will reduce to
only 340 per 100,000 live births by 2015 which makes it unlikely for Ghana to
meet the MDG target of 185 per 100,000 live births.
A CPP government will take steps to accelerate the pace of
maternal health intervention. Delivery in all public hospitals across the
country is free to support the reduction of maternal mortality. Although this
is an important development, implementation of such policies has had serious
challenges. There are still issues of access and inadequate personnel in our health
facilities.
A CPP government will ensure that there are district
hospitals, well equipped with trained personnel especially midwives to ensure
safe delivery. More nurses, midwifery training institutions will be opened.
Education on Family Planning will be vigorously factored into the
implementation of this policy.
Protection of our
Children
As a country we have signed unto the United Nations
Convention on the Child, passed the Children’s Act of 1998, the Juvenile
Justice Act of 2003, and the Human Trafficking Act of 2005. A CPP government
will ensure that all these legal provisions and programmes designed to improve
the welfare of the Ghanaian child are implemented fully. A CPP government will
also introduce innovations to enhance protection and development of our
children. A CPP government will collaborate with the Ministry of Health and
other related institutions to improve the health status of children especially
in areas of nutrition, malaria among others. The state should invest not only in
children’s health needs but also in their educational and nutritional needs.
Categories of malnourishment in children aged 0-5 years should be fully
addressed in both urban and rural areas. Given the adverse impacts these have
on children’s physical and mental development urgent attention is required and
adequate resources must be provided. A CPP government will expand the School Feeding
Programme to cover all deprived areas to ensure that the average child is
assured of one balanced meal. Investing in our children is a must and a CPP
government will not over look this responsibility.
A CPP Government will put in place Formation Programmes for children
to train them as was done in the first Republic.
Amongst others, a CPP government will introduce a children’s Budget
to track public resources devoted to the welfare of the Ghanaian child
especially in education, skills development and sports, including those from
oil and gas.
Although the MDGs call for free basic education, a CPP government will go beyond
that to ensure that secondary education and tertiary
education are free and accessible to build the formidable workforce to
transform the economy. Education will be compulsory and continuous till the
attainment of 18 years.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, rhetoric alone cannot bring about change
that is why policy is important. A CPP government will address gender
inequalities with policies to ensure sustainable development and transformation
of Ghana.
A CPP government will institutionalize gender analysis of
policies, plans and budgets as a pre- requisite for approval of all sector
ministries. Above all, a CPP government will endeavour to ensure that all
sections of the population, male and female will be effectively engaged in all
matters of policy making, governance and resource allocation.
We need a well resourced (technical, institutional and
financial) and focused MOWAC. What we need is a return to Nkrumah’s vision of
building a dynamic and confident nation with both men and women having a place
at the table.
THANK YOU.
