By Rebecca Ekpe
ABANTU For Development in partnership with Plan Ghana, joined by the Affirmative Action Bill Coalition, and others are again placing on the front burner the conversation about the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into Law.
At an engagement with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and key stakeholders on the status of the Affirmative Action Bill in Accra, the Women said they are ‘’disappointed’’ that the Bill has not been passed, after many years of pushing this agenda.
Where is the Affirmative Action Bill?
Currently the Affirmative Action Bill is in Cabinet.
The Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Bill was on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, resubmitted to Cabinet for consideration, according to Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection.
The Gender Minister said the re-submission would enable the consideration of the Bill to ensure it is laid before Parliament for approval.
The process of Affirmative Action started in Ghana in 1998 with the introduction of an Affirmative Action Policy guidelines to promulgate an Affirmative Action Law without concrete results.
Women’s Groups and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) through coalition building, collective and solidarity actions have since ‘’pushed for the adoption of affirmative action mechanisms and placed the prime issue of parity in women’s participation as a core demand in their work’’.
Is the President still a Gender Champion?
ABANTU For Development and its subsidiaries are calling on President Akufo Addo to operationalize his role as Gender Champion to ensure that the Affirmative Action Bill becomes Law under his tenure as promised.
President Akufo Addo’s two-term tenure ends on January 7, 2025, when a new President takes the Oath of Office in Ghana.
What next?
Madam Sheila Minkah-Premo, Convenor of the Affirmative Action Bill Coalition admits that one of the setbacks to the passage of the Bill is the frequent changes in Leadership at the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection.
She suggested more engagements with stakeholders to ensure all parties are brought on board.
ABANTU says it would continue with the engagements and its rallying call remains ‘’Pass the Affirmative Action Bill now’’ Executive Director Rose Mensah-Kutin asserts.
‘’Gender Equality makes a lot of economic sense’’, ABANTU’s Programme Manager, Hamida Harrison noted, adding that ‘’the Affirmative Action Bill must be brought to Parliament and passed under the Certificate of Urgency’’.
Why an Affirmative Action Law
The case for ABANTU and co is that persistent low representation of women in key decision-making spaces makes it nearly impossible for women’s effective contributions to Ghana’s development.
Ghana continues to have more females than males according to the results of the 2021 Population and Housing Census.
Approximately, the female population is now 50.7 percent of the total population with 49.3 percent being males.
There are 15.6 million females as against 15.2 million males.
The Affirmative Action Law recognizes that Women’s political participation is a critical component of democratic dialogue and social cohesion.
Also, Women’s representation in all policy-making spaces in Ghana stands below the United Nations (UN) threshold of 30 per cent.
Currently, women’s representation in Ghana’s Parliament stands at 14.5 per cent, while in the District Assembly System, it is below five per cent.
The situation is no different in the government’s Ministerial, Ambassadorial, and Board Appointments.
Affirmative Action is much more needed now as Ghana prepares for the 2023 District Level Elections and the 9th General Election in 2024.
