Ms Lauretta Vivian Lamptey, Commissioner, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on Thursday said the implementation of affirmative action would contribute immensely to resolve the problem of low representation of women in politics.
She said “Although Ghana had adopted the affirmative action proposal to reserve 40 per cent of positions in decision making for women, not much had been done to implement that commitment.”
Ms Lamptey made the observation at a round table discussion dubbed “Affirmative Action and Women’s Participation in Politics,” to mark the celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8 in Accra.
The IWD is a global annual celebration to commemorate the immense contribution of women in society, to identify and tackle obstacles that impede women’s progress in all fields of endeavor.
The theme for this year's celebration is "Connecting Girls Inspiring Futures".
The celebration was first observed internationally in 1911 by Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland.
She said “it was important for women not to consider the Day only for women, but for humanity, the fore bringing of the gendered nature of the world and a demonstration of the world as a social construct in which power, roles, responsibilities and obligations of women, though blurred, had been defined.”
“Roles had been defined in a way that perpetuated the continued domination and subjugation of women by men. However the domination and subjugation is universal therefore, the struggle of the Ghanaian woman forms part of the universal struggle of women,” she added.
Ms Lamptey said the theme for the celebration, could not have been more appropriate in the light of the fact that this year was an election year, and there was therefore, the need to whip up the interest in women, to participate in the political process, by taking part in the debate on affirmative action, voting, and probably also being voted for.
She stressed that although women who had thrown their hats into the political arena all over the world had been celebrated, global and local statistics of women in national and local politics had not met the global expectation. The CHRAJ Commissioner said although international organisations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Commonwealth Platform of Action for Gender Equality (CPAGE) and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) had urged State parties to remove barriers that impeded or excluded women from their political parties, not much efforts had been made towards that.
“The CPAGE in 2005-2015 for instance has advocated a minimum of 30 per cent women’s representation in decision making in Parliament and in local government. It also advocated the creation of an enabling environment for young women to seek and advance political careers, and to encourage political parties to adopt a 30 per cent target for women candidates, as part of their manifestoes to provide leadership training for women” she added.
Ms Lamptey acknowledged other international and regional organisations such as the United Nations (UN), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), and United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), for the key role played in the sensitisation activities to increase the participation of women at decision making levels within the community, political and government spheres.
She added that although leaders like President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany had emerged in mainstream politics, there was much left to be done, stressing that out of the 46,501 Parliamentarians in the world, 8,928 were women representing 19.5 per cent.
“On the world ranking of women representation in Parliament, Ghana ranks 119.This means out of 230 Parliamentarians only 19 are women, representing 8.3 per cent, while Rwanda ranks first. More work needs to be done globally to propel women to the forefront in decision making in all countries,” she said.
Ms Lamptey explained that Ghana had signed and ratified a host of international human rights instruments to espouse the conclusion of women in politics, adding that the nation replicated some of the ideals in the 1992 Constitution and abhorred discrimination on the grounds of gender, and advocated the inclusion of women in the economic mainstream of the country.
She commended efforts by women’s groups and orgnisations in Ghana such as the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, Ark Foundation, Women in Law Development in Africa (WILDAF) and others on their efforts to amass support for women participation in politics.
“The Ark Foundation has done their part in encouraging eligible women to gain interest in the political decision making of the country. These efforts started at a legislative level in 1960, where 10 women elected by special ballot to the National Assembly were made possible, under the Representation of People Act No. 8 of 1960.”
Ms Lamptey noted that at the district assembly level, women participation was facilitated through the appointment of assembly mechanism, which had been the focus of affirmative action, stressing that the national plan of action was for 40 per cent representation of women.
“Currently, out of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, only three are women, representing 1.3 per cent. The leadership of political parties in Ghana is generally male dominated, until recently, when Madam Samia Yaaba Nkrumah was elected Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP),” she said.
Ms Lamptey urged all groups and orgnisations in the fight for women’s rights not to relent in their efforts because the battle had not yet ended.
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