Let’s support women in politics'

Daily Graphic Pg 11, Oct 28/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

One of the salient issues discussed at the United Nation’s (UN) World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 was that of improving women’s active participation in all aspects of development.
That conference agreed that “the empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of women’s social, economic and political status is essential for the achievement of both transparent and accountable government and administration, and sustainable development in all areas of life”.
Although the status of women across the world has marginally improved after the conference there is still more to be done to address the issue of gender inequality to achieve gender equality, equity, mainstreaming and women empowerment.
In Ghana, although women constitute more than half of the country’s population, their representation in parliament as well as in other decision-making positions is low.
Presently, there are 25 women in the country’s 230-member Legislature. The country has four women cabinet ministers as against 16 men. There is also no female regional minister in the country, while there are only three deputy ministers.
Also, out of the 35 chief directors of ministries, only six are women while there are only three women representations on the Council of State which is composed of a membership of 25. There four women out of the total number of 48 serving as ambassadors and high commissioners, whereas at the district assembly level, out of a total of 138 district chief executives, only 12 are women.
Records of the number of women participating in this year’s parliamentary election indicate that less than 70 will be contesting this year’s election to enter the country’s legislature, as against 100 in 2004.
To sharpen the skills of journalists in writing on the poor representation of women in decision-making, a women’s advocacy non-governmental organisation (NGO), Women Media and Change (WOMEC), in conjunction with ABANTU for Development and with support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has organised a two-day workshop for selected journalists on increasing women’s participation in politics.
The workshop, which brought together 30 journalists from the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central and Western regions, was aimed among other things, at building the capacity of the participants to be more gender sensitive in their reportage before, during and after the elections. It was also to sensitise the journalists to give adequate coverage to all the female candidates vying for various parliamentary seats, as well as also use the media as an effective tool to solicit votes for them.
A Gender and Development Consultant, Mrs Joana Opare, who took participants through the topics “promoting women’s participation in governance and decision making” and “Understanding gender-concepts and terminologies”, admitted that “gender advocacy cannot be changed within a day; it will take decades or centuries to do it”.
Enumerating some of the barriers that hinder women’s participation in politics, she said that women were generally less interested in politics; both women and men often see politics as a man’s affair; women lacked political capacities; women lacked confidence in their own political capabilities and that they also have lower level of education, professional experience, income and available time, as compared to men.
She stated further that women who wanted to enter into politics often lacked support from their husbands or family at the societal level; they had limited access to leadership, managerial skills and training and also mentioned the lack of female role models and mentors.
She also said there was an aggressive political climate, competitiveness and discrimination or intimidation of women, adding that the working conditions and organisational culture was not adapted to women’s circumstances such as the lack of childcare services, family leave and flexible work schedules.
Mrs Opare further noted that there were no laws in the country on the political rights and participation of women although Article 35 (6) (b) of the 1992 Constitution provides that the state takes appropriate measures to achieve reasonable gender and regional balance in recruitment and appointment to public office.
She said in order to actualise the principles of good governance that takes into account the equal representation of men and women, the process of governance will have to secure the inclusion of those who are marginalised.
According to her, gender equality was a contributor to, as well as an outcome of good governance and that it was essential to look beyond the question of numbers to enhancing the quality and effectiveness of women politicians.
She called on advocates of gender equality to conduct research, particularly on the need for changes at policy levels, encourage the collection, analysis and dissemination of sex-disaggregated data, develop practical tools to support the integration of gender perspectives at both policy and programme levels and also strengthen and disseminate methodologies for gender analysis.
She also called for moral support for women aspiring to enter into politics through the support of interest groups within the political process, or create another system of mentoring for inexperienced women politicians, provide support from a reference group or institution that will act as a support base and as a pressure group for women’s issues
She said women feel continuously marginalised, stereotyped, taken for granted and experience little understanding or support, adding that to attain equal participation of men and women in governance, men need to work together with women and that every effort must be made to bring on board their valuable contributions towards sustainable development at all levels.
Giving an overview of the workshop, Mrs Charity Binka, the Executive Director of WOMEC, said in order for the media to help in scaling up the representation of women in parliament, “it was necessary for a critical mass media professionals to be created and cultivated to promote and give greater visibility to all female parliamentary candidates, irrespective of the political party they are representing”.
She said the workshop, which will also be replicated in the northern sector of the country, will also bring the media personnel together after the elections for a post- election seminar to draw up realistic strategies to sustain the interest generated in the electorate for female candidates to ensure their success in future.