Women's Coalition Threatens Action
By Lawrence Akpalu
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Thursday, 18 December 2008
The Women’s Manifesto Coalition of Ghana has expressed disappointment at the reduced number of women going to the next parliament following the December 7 general elections. The elections saw the number of women parliamentarians reduce from 25 to 18, leaving women activists and gender advocates totally demoralized.
The Executive Director of Advocates for Gender Equity Age, Mrs Elizabeth Akpalu, stated at a press briefing yesterday in Accra that the Women Manifesto Coalition was demanding from the next government, mandatory appointment of women as regional ministers and district chief executives, and on boards of corporations and institutions.
Mrs Akpalu said the two main political parties – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New patriotic Party (NPP) had not convinced women who constituted the majority of voters about their commitment to women’s representation and participation in governance and the strategies they intended to introduce to achieve gender equity.
“We firmly believe that without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s –perspectives all levels of decision making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved,” she added.
She said “the coalition’s demands were clearly stated in the Beijing Platform for Action which called for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and for equal participation of both men and women in decision making positions to reflect societal interest.
“Since the constitution requires that two-thirds of ministers must be appointed from Parliament, the 18 elected women parliamentarians even if appointed would not make any impact,” she said, adding, “women would still be worse off in the new administration”.
She said that to press home their demands, bus loads of women would be conveyed to the offices of the two main political parties to demand pledges for a peaceful election run-off and the implementation of strategic outline of existing national policies.
“We shall firmly demand a timely response from the two main political parties before December 28 to enable women to make an informed decision on which presidential candidate to vote for,” she said.
Mrs Akpalu assured the two parties of the coalition’s continued engagement with them in the next government to further address the demands, as the time for affirmative action towards adopting a quota system to ensure full women participation in politics is now.”
Source: News Times Online.
The Executive Director of Advocates for Gender Equity Age, Mrs Elizabeth Akpalu, stated at a press briefing yesterday in Accra that the Women Manifesto Coalition was demanding from the next government, mandatory appointment of women as regional ministers and district chief executives, and on boards of corporations and institutions.
Mrs Akpalu said the two main political parties – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New patriotic Party (NPP) had not convinced women who constituted the majority of voters about their commitment to women’s representation and participation in governance and the strategies they intended to introduce to achieve gender equity.
“We firmly believe that without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s –perspectives all levels of decision making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved,” she added.
She said “the coalition’s demands were clearly stated in the Beijing Platform for Action which called for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and for equal participation of both men and women in decision making positions to reflect societal interest.
“Since the constitution requires that two-thirds of ministers must be appointed from Parliament, the 18 elected women parliamentarians even if appointed would not make any impact,” she said, adding, “women would still be worse off in the new administration”.
She said that to press home their demands, bus loads of women would be conveyed to the offices of the two main political parties to demand pledges for a peaceful election run-off and the implementation of strategic outline of existing national policies.
“We shall firmly demand a timely response from the two main political parties before December 28 to enable women to make an informed decision on which presidential candidate to vote for,” she said.
Mrs Akpalu assured the two parties of the coalition’s continued engagement with them in the next government to further address the demands, as the time for affirmative action towards adopting a quota system to ensure full women participation in politics is now.”
Source: News Times Online.
