The Convenor of the Affirmative Action Bill Coalition, Mrs Sheila Minka-Premo, has called for the immediate passage of the Affirmative Action bill into law to address issues of bias against women and involvement in decision-making process in the country.
She said women were still excluded from decision making positions and there was the urgent need to address this, as agreed upon by the community of nations.
MrsMinka-Premo said this at a press confernce to mark the International Women’s Day in Accra yesterday.
It was on the theme “Break the bias by passing the Affirmative Action bill into law.”
The occasion was graced by representatives from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and Women group organisations.
The programme was organised by the Affirmation Action Bill Coalition in collaboration with Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).
The convenor mentioned some issues that marginalise women in leadership positions as lack of education, religious barriers, negative socio-cultural practices and lack of legislations to ensure gender equality.
She said even though women constituted more than 50 per cent of Ghana’s population the female/male membership of both Parliament, district assemblies, public and private sectors did not reflect the composition of the population.
MrsMinka- Premo said with 275 parliamentarians there were only 40 women and 30 Ministers with six women and with 260 Metropolitan and District Assembly nominee there were 38 females.
The Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement, DrKojo Asante, said in order for Ghana to achieve the goal of becoming a more inclusive state with equal opportunities for all and Ghana beyond Aid, Ghana must address its human rights gap.
He said the bill would increase the number of women in governance and assume leadership roles.
“Women’s political representation in Ghana has been abysmal, women hold only 40 seats of the 275 members of the 8th Parliament which represent 14.5 per cent of total Parliament with men in majority,” he added.
Dr Asante assured of CDD-Ghana’scontinuous efforts to support the Affirmative Action law as it illustrated the country’s commitment towards improving governance and securing inclusive development.
The Executive for Advocacy for Gender Equity, Mrs Elizabeth Akpalu, called for the support of all stakeholders to ensure the bill was passed into law.
She stressed the need for the passage of the law to help in promoting equal representation of women in the country.
The Executive Director of Media Women and Change, Mrs Charity Binkah, called on the media to collaborate with women group organisations to support the advocacy to ensure the passage of the bill into law.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
