Africa-Press – Ghana. The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has organised a two-day workshop to sensitise Ghanaian female Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Affirmative Action Law.
The workshop held at Aqua Safari in Ada was also aimed at providing the MPs with lobbying skills, advocacy and the necessary tools for the act to be fully enforced.
Madam Kathleen Addy, Chairperson of the NCCE, opening the workshop, noted that the sensitisation was important for the female MPs to help materialise the benefits envisaged in the law.
Madam Addy said there were a lot of reforms to be made to help more women emerge as parliamentarians, citing Rwanda, where 64 per cent of its parliamentarians are females.
“It didn’t happen organically. Because of the social dynamics of women and men in society, most of the time, women will need a little push,” she emphasised.
In an interview at the sidelines of the programme, Madam Addy said the law must employ political parties to reserve a percentage of their parliamentary seats for women, an intervention she believes would make women part of policymaking.
“In Ghana’s parliament, only 14 per cent are women, in a country that has over 50 per cent of its population being women,” she lamented.
Some of the MPs expressed satisfaction about the workshop, noting that women have always been marginalised and less catered for.
Madam Ablah Dzifa Gomashie, MP for Ketu South and a queen mother in the Aflao Traditional Area, told that a female child could equally be raised by her parents to perform tasks of all kinds, rather than segregating duties to be performed with gender identification.
She said: “Aside from what biologically identifies us as a man or woman and perhaps strength, every other thing can be done by both genders,” adding that countries that have women in leadership were doing better than Ghana.
Madam Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah, MP for Salaga South, stated that the Affirmative Action Law, which was passed and assented to last year, would not be one of the many laws that are not in use.
According to her, female MPs would get themselves acquainted with the law, engage various stakeholders, and then disseminate an action plan to the citizenry to empower and encourage many women to take up leadership positions in the country.
For More News And Analysis About Ghana Follow Africa-Press
