Accra, Ghana//-Campaigners for the passage of Ghana’s Affirmative Action Bill into law have expressed fear that the current male dominated parliament will struggle to get it passed.
According to them, because women are in the minority and most parliamentarians (men) by statistics, the bill will struggle to pass because it may not be a priority to men who do have the experiences and needs that the bill addresses.
This means that if the bill is to pass within the current dispensation, there will be a need to get men champions in addition to the women advocates in parliament.
Speakers at a roundtable discussion on ‘Strengthening Pluralism and Inclusion of Women for Inclusive Development: The Urgent Need for the Passage of the Affirmative Action Bill’ said.
The Convener of the Affirmative Action Bill (AAB), Sheila Minkah-Premo, called on the government to show a strong political will by passing the bill into law now!
Updating the participants on the status of the bill, she notes the journey of affirmative action dates to Ghana’s independence; however, the drafting of Ghana’s Affirmative Action Law began as far back as the year 2011. However, till date, the bill is yet not passed into law despite incessant pressure from CSOs.
What is the Affirmative Action Bill?
According to her, Affirmative Action is a temporary mechanism aimed at removing discrimination, improving the rights of marginalised groups, who have been historically disadvantaged.
So, Ghana’s Affirmative Action Law seeks to remove the historical low representation of women in all decision-making spaces, while promoting democracy and development through effective participation of all citizens.
Madam Minkah-Premo added Affirmative Action seeks to promote women’s representation to a minimum of 40% in all policy making spaces.
The Affirmative Action Bill when passed into law, she argues, would provide an accountability framework for gender equality and the empowerment of women aimed at providing both the executive and legislative benchmark for measuring the commitment and progress of the country towards achieving gender equality.
“A good nation is built by people of both sexes, that is men and women. We need inclusion to ensure real and sustainable development in Ghana.
We haven’t gone very far in our democracy due to the exclusion of women from governance and decision-making positions. We need inclusive growth”.
Women are discriminated against in governance and decision-making positions.
The Affirmative Action Bill is aimed at enacting a Gender Equality law which will ensure inclusion in Ghana, Madam Minkah-Premo argued.
1992 Constitution, others support the bill
The bill is in line with Article 17(4) of the 1992 Constitution and in compliance with country’s international human rights obligations, including the U.N Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) – particularly Goal 5, the U.N Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration, and the African Union Agenda 2063.
The main purpose of the recent attempt to enact an Affirmative Action Law is to enact a law to address aspects of social, economic, and educational imbalance in Ghana in accordance with Article 17(4) of the 1992 Constitution.
Assurance
The Director of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Faustina Acheampong assured that the ministry and its sector minister are working hard to get the bill passed by the close of this year.
Although she gave a detailed working plan towards the passage, the campaigners are still in doubt.
Strong advocacy
A Senior Lecturer at the Ghana Telecommunication University, Dr Esi Akyere Mensah called for a strong advocacy from a multi-layered perspective and approach for the passage of the bill into law.
The day’s roundtable discussion was organised by Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in partnership with the Canada based Global Centre for Pluralism (GCP) following the launch of Ghana Pluralism Monitor Report.
The maiden report released by the GCP recently found that there remain significant inequalities among different segments of Ghanaian society.
Dr Mensah who is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Management and Human Resources of Ghana Telecommunication University, advised her fellow campaigners to ‘win’ over the national psyche of Ghanaians to get the bill which was resubmitted to Cabinet in March 2023 passed.
In her words: “We need to do more in terms of advocacy from the bottom up and top down. Bottom up- using local language to teach the public about the bill and what it will mean, provide for our society”.
She added that women’s economic empowerment leads to economic growth and development outcomes, increases employment and leadership opportunities for women, benefits companies and leads to organizational effectiveness and growth.
Gender equality in the workforce could have a significant positive impact on GDP and other economic indicators, Dr Mensah further added.
Why the need for the Affirmative Action law
Besides the above-mentioned economic benefits, Ghana has not passed an Affirmative Action Bill aimed at increasing women’s participation in politics and decision-making, despite ongoing advocacy since 2011.
Only 14.5% of elected members in the last parliamentary elections in Ghana were women, according to data. The country also ranks 107 out of 152 countries for the gender index on political empowerment, with a score of only 0.129.
Other African countries such as Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe have higher scores for political empowerment in the Global Gender Gap Report.
“The inability of Ghana to sign affirmative action into law is problematic and a signal that more advocacy is needed”.
She therefore urged the campaigners to make aspects of the document of the bill that could be shared readily available online and in print.
While cautioning that the enforcement of the bill even after it is passed cannot be left on autopilot.
Reflections from the Ghana Pluralism Monitor Report
Reflecting on the Ghana Pluralism Monitor Report, Dr Mensah noted that Ghana had adopted international and regional commitments on the rights of women, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The establishment of a Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is in accordance with CEDAW.
Gaps
Even though Ghana’s constitution recognizes and protects all social and cultural groups, including women, from discrimination. However, implementation of women’s rights is challenged by a lack of political commitment and resources.
She observed that gender equality and women’s empowerment in Ghana are still limited by traditional cultural and social norms that perpetuate discrimination and unequal treatment.
Economic and Socioeconomic Gaps
Socioeconomic issues and low intergroup trust are present in Ghana. As disparities in access to education and healthcare based on economic factors and gender exist, particularly between the north and south regions.
“Women in Ghana have lower rates of participation in formal employment, education, and political leadership compared to men”.
Women are victims of practices that limit their access to property rights, such as land, and limited representation in political and economic life.
Political economic and socio-economic gaps issues participation
Female Leadership representation across all sectors of society -economic, political, media, academia is still a huge problem because it affects gender parity in all these spaces.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) collaborated in its report that women do not stay long enough in the profession to rise to managerial or executive positions.
Women often face a glass cliff and tokenism, with limited decision-making power and fewer opportunities for advancement in their careers. Women also have lower decision-making power, Dr Mensah stated.
“In general, media discussions of gender-related issues, such as violence against women or girls, do not connect them to the wider social context that enables such violence”.
More women in informal and vulnerable employment are more than men. The statistics are staggering-women (91.9 percent versus 87.9 percent) engaged in informal work, with disparity in earnings for men and women.
Women earn about 70 percent of what men earn for the same work- that is another huge gender wage gap.
Cultural , religion and trust …gaps & issues
Cultural inequality that cuts across all ethnic groups is discrimination against women. Women are slightly more distrustful due to the persistence of various forms of gender discrimination in Ghana means that marginalized women and girls are likely to have little trust in both formal and informal institutions.
On the other hand, women have a higher rate of participation in religious groups than men (30 percent). This means the religious leaders are important GATE KEEPERS in pushing the affirmative action bill.
Women in North & South Ghana
The north region is experiencing increasing levels of income poverty and underinvestment compared to the south. Women in the North are particularly vulnerable, with limited economic opportunities and poorer access to healthcare.
Efforts to address gender inequality in Ghana
These have included policies and initiatives aimed at increasing women’s access to education, health care, and economic opportunities.
“Women coalition groups and CSOs like CDD- Ghana have been instrumental in advancing women’s rights…but a concerning trend in governance is the state’s inclination to label advocacy groups as partisan or trying to undermine the government’s popularity, revealing a troubling disregard for dissent”, Dr Mensah said.
On her part, the Program Officer of the Global Centre for Pluralism, Madam Rajvir Gill, explained: “Pluralism is an ethic of respect for diversity. Pluralism means taking decisions and actions, as individuals and societies, which are grounded in respect for diversity”.
Recognition
Whether, and how, diversity is recognised and treated through formal legal and institutional means, and through policy and practice.
Belonging
“Whether and to what extent people in society feel like they, and others, belong. Our perceptions of who belongs and who contributes, and influence how we interact on an everyday basis with others”, she said.
Madam Gill also explained that the Global Pluralism Monitor is a tool developed to enable policymakers and practitioners to understand and measure the extent to which societies around the world are pluralistic.
The Monitor she added aims to “change the conversation” about ethnic/religious diversity, to promote a different approach that does not view diversity as a threat or problem to countries.
The Pluralism Monitor according to her is useful because it identifies gaps, discovers trends, conflict prevention, and best practices. Here is the full report: file:///Users/masahudu/Downloads/GPM-Report%20Ghana-01b.pdf.
