'Reverse Women's Under-representation In Public Life

The Rector of the Law Institute, Ms. Hilary Gbedemah - wants to see more pragmatic approaches at reversing women's under-representation in public life. The Rector of the Law Institute, Ms. Hilary Gbedemah, has called for more pragmatic approaches at reversing women’s under-representation in public life.

Expressing concern about the dwindling numbers of women in governance and decision-making positions at all levels, she said this called for concrete measures to address the issues.

Ms Gbedemah, who is also a consultant on women’s affairs, was speaking at a day’s validation workshop on a draft affirmative action paper that sought to increase women’s participation and representation in politics in Ghana.

ABANTU for Development, and the Women’s Manifesto Coalition (WMC) for Ghana, both Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), sponsored the workshop, which among other things sought to create space for critical actors on gender equality promotion to comment on the affirmative action paper.

The workshop also aimed at deepening the knowledge and awareness on affirmative action in Ghana; develop strategies and an action plan that would enhance advocacy efforts towards the development of the affirmative action law.

Participants at the workshop who came from the northern parts of the country included representatives from civil society organizations, gender activists, academia, women rights organizations, government agencies, political parties and the media.

Touching on the low numbers of women in government, which as of March 2011 stood at eight out of 35 ministers (23 percent) and six out of 39 deputy ministers (16 percent), Ms Gbedemah said the figures were woefully inadequate.

She disclosed that the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) had projected that gender parity in Ghana could only be achieved in 2047, given the trend.

It was against this backdrop that the affirmative action paper was developed by ABANTU and WCM, with the support of the European Union, and regional consultations put in place to seek views towards the passage of the affirmative action law.

Ms Gbedemah noted that there were no overt legal obstacles to women’s participation in public life but indicated that the legal regimes failed to work because of the lack of supporting social development laws and weak enforcement regime of the prevailing laws.

She, therefore, called for the full implementation of the country’s laws and policies on the rights to vote and to stand for elections.

She also stressed the need for women to exhibit a sense of self-confidence in their resolve to rub shoulders with their male counterparts in public life.

Ms Gbedemah also faulted men for orchestrating intimidations, attacks and other acts that tended to prevent women from competing with them in the political arena.

The ABANTU programmes manager, Ms Efua Gyapomaa, pointed out the need for women to take risks saying that was one sure of getting to the top.

She said the unfair political grounds against women could be reversed if “we all put our heads together and do the right things.”

Ms Gyapomaa suggested to political par ties to consider ceding their safe political seats to women.