Female West African MPs strategize for women participation in politics
Women MPs from Commonwealth West Africa are meeting in Accra to find ways of strengthening women’s participation in politics in the region. They are particularly looking to political parties for the realization of this dream. Ghana’s political party leadership is also attending the four-day event.
Globally, women remain sidelined from the structures of governance that determine political and legislative priorities.
Worldwide, women only hold 19 per cent of parliamentary seats, whilst the proportion of women ministers is averaging 16 per cent.
Political parties who recruit and select candidates for elections and also determine a country’s agenda have been blamed for not performing their role to expectation.
Speaking to e.tv Ghana news, Member of Parliament for Jomoro and Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party, Samia Nkrumah says there is a lot of work to be done.
“If we want to gain control over our economy, I think women will have to play a very big role in increasing and uplifting democratization and when the voice of the majority is truly heard and taken into account I think it will benefit most Ghanaians.”
To reverse the current trend the Commonwealth West African Women Parliamentarians are asking political parties in member states to extend more support to women who show interest in taking up political position.
In Ghana political parties have already removed 50 percent off the financial obligation of women political office aspirants. But there’s more that can be done to improve the outcomes.
Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu also told e.tv Ghana news that there was the need to look beyond the constitutions of the various political parties in the country.
He proposes for a review of the national constitution that will create space for women’s involvement in decision making and particularly in Parliament.
“There are some countries where it is obligatory for regions to also determine the number of seats to give to women. It is important to look at this comprehensively and look at how to broaden the horizon for women participation in decision making and in parliament particular.”
This year’s conference dubbed: ’Increasing Women’s Participation In Politics In Commonwealth West Africa; The Role Of Political Parties’, underscores the significant roles political parties play in complementing the efforts of the association.
Speaker of Parliament, Joyce Adelaide Bamford Addo, who opened the conference, stressed that affirmative action measures including the quota systems still remains prudent in increasing women participation.
She noted that, women’s participation in politics is an essential component of democracy and sustainable development which must be pursued to the fullest.
“Why is it that in spite of about 80 per cent of the economies of most developing countries being managed by women, yet women are underrepresented when it comes to decision making. It is prudent and right that women be allowed to participate in decision making to make the necessary crucial impact for social and development of their respective nations,” the Speaker of Parliament noted.
Other speakers at the conference confirm that structures, policies, practices and values of political parties have a profound impact on the level of women’s participation in politics. The conference is expected to end on Wednesday December 30, 2011.
By: e.tv Ghana
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