Gender Ministry Urges Ghanaians To Vote For Women In Tomorrow’s District Assembly And Unit Committee Elections

Ghanaians go to the polls tomorrow, 1^st September, 2015 to elect assembly men and women as well as Unit Committee members. In exercising this franchise, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection would like to remind all voters, that women and men are equal partners in the development of State policies and development programs. All voters must therefore use this opportunity to ensure that more women are elected to the Assemblies.

The percentage of women elected to the assemblies has not been encouraging since the inception of the district assembly concept in Ghana. This is in spite of the fact that women outnumber men in Ghana. Apart from 2006, when elected assembly women were 10.10%, the percentage of elected assembly women has always been below 10 percent.

Women, play significant roles in the governance process. A good number of them have occupied significant positions in state institutions. Women also play an integral role in the social, economic and cultural fabric of the country. Women play a fundamental role in the agriculture sector which contributes significantly to Ghana’s national income, until recently representing 40% of Ghana’s GDP.

According to Ghana Statistical Service and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 44.4% of employed women work in agribusiness. The service sector has slowly grown to overtake agriculture as the major contributor to Ghana’s GDP, representing 51% in 2010 compared with 30% from agriculture.

Women also provide a significant contribution to this sector, with 37.2% of employed women working in the service sector compared with only 10.8% of men. In addition, 43.1% of employed urban females are engaged in the wholesale and retail subsector which is more than twice the proportion (17.2%) of males in the subsector. Women therefore continue to participate significantly in Ghana’s main sources of national income.

While statistics show that the number of households supported primarily by female breadwinners has increased steadily, women’s participation in public life has not flourished in the same vein. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection believes, that giving women a chance to actively take part in decision making at the district level, will surely inure to faster development.

With women’s proven record in the social, economic and cultural fabric of this country, the Ministry is convinced that their continuous sidelining in elections will not help Ghana’s democratic development.

We therefore urge all voters to vote for women in tomorrow’s District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections.

ABRAHAM ASARE
COMNMUNICATIONS ADVISOR