Exclusion Of Women In Decision-Making Bad For Ghana's Democracy

Mr.Alhassan Imoro

One of Ghana’s veteran journalist and media trainer, Alhassan Imoro, has observed that the continued exclusion and marginalization of majority of women during decision-making is bad and does not create a strong and healthy democracy for the country.

He said that there must be increased effort by the media, civil society organizations and for that matter government, towards ensuring the participation of women in the public and private spheres of the nation’s economy.

Speaking at a workshop organized by the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) in Tamale to train media practitioners on the best strategies to employ to promote women’s participation in decision-making and election into political positions, Mr. Imoro said the situation in the country particularly the Northern Region, called for a positive change for women in the political, economic and socio-cultural sectors of Ghana’s economy.

According to him, it required a more determined and coordinated set of actions by the media, women themselves, gender advocates, traditional authorities, political parties and governmental institutions within Ghana’s decentralization system to bring about change.

In spite of the good role the media had played and continued to play towards enhancing women representation in decision-making and local governance, he noted that, there was still a lot more work to be done in terms of awareness creation on gender mainstreaming and grassroots participation in governance. He emphasised that women who had been relegated to the background needed support and encouragement from the media to get their voices heard for them to get involve and participate effectively in local governance.

Mr. Imoro who is also the General Manager of Zaa FM, a local radio station in Tamale, urged the media to bring to the fore and notice of community members, parents, traditional authorities and other stakeholders, the challenges that hindered the effective involvement and participation of potential women leaders in decision-making and local governance. He cited for instance, public vilification of political leadership, difficulties in funding campaigns, lack of programmes that mentor women/young girls to prepare them for leadership positions and among others, as some of the factors contributing towards the low participation of women in politics.

The media, he observed, could also encourage men especially, and community leaders (including women leaders) to create space and voice for enterprising women to participate in decision-making and leadership roles in their communities and districts.

He also asked the media to sensitise and educate parents, community members and the electorate (especially men) to support and vote for women to be elected as Unit Committee and Assembly Members as well as legislators to enable women to influence policies and programmes affecting the vulnerable group (women and children).

Mr. Imoro further charged the media to keep reminding the government about its pledge to appoint 40 percent of women across board to serve in leadership positions, because it was only when such transformation took place that it would create opportunities for women to contest presidential elections in future.    

For instance, statistics indicated that Ghana’s Parliament has since 1960 been underrepresented by women where only 10 women were elected out of 104 legislators, 1965 recorded 19 female legislators out of 104, 1969 saw a very discomforting figure of 1 female legislator out of 104 while 1979 also saw an appreciable rise of 5 females out of 140 legislators. 

Furthermore, in 1992, 16 females out of 200, 1996 saw 18 out of the same 200 and the figure rose to 19 in 2000 out of 200. However, the 2004 parliament recorded a high number of 25 female legislators out of the 230 and 2008 also recorded 20 out of 230, but the number now per the 2012 elections stands at 27 females out of a total of 275 legislators. 

At the district level, the statistics further showed that 122 women were elected Assembly Members nationwide as against 4,082 males in 1994, 196 women in 1998 as against 4,624 males, year 2000 saw 341 women against 4,241 males and in 2006 recorded 433 elected women as against 4,301. 

In the Northern Region, the largest region in Ghana, out of a total of 137 females that contested the District Assembly Elections in 2010, only 19 of them were voted. In that same year, while only one was elected to the Tamale Metro Assembly compared to 64 males, no woman was elected in nine other districts in the region. Overall, only 6 women in the entire region won the elections to become Assembly Members out of a total of 43 women who contested.  

According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, the population of the Northern Region stood at 2,479,461 representing about 10 percent of Ghana’s population. Of this figure, the male population was 1,229,887 whereas that of women was 1,249,574. This showed that the population of women in the region exceeded that of men by 19,687.

The workshop marked the end of a 36-month GDCA and European Union project dubbed: “Supporting Women’s Participation in Elections (SWOPE) in Northern Region” that spanned between 2010 and 2013. It was intended to increase civic awareness for support for women in politics in the region and also increase the number of women representation in the local governance system in six Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies including Tamale Metropolis, Yendi Municipality, Saboba, Central Gonja, Nanumba North and South Districts.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Khadijah Iddrisu, SWOPE Project Officer, attributed lack of funds to campaign, threats from male counterparts, harassments and insults from fellow women and men, chieftaincy and political affiliations as some of the challenges that confronted women during the 2010 District Assembly Elections in the region, thereby contributing to the loss of most contestants.