ActionAid Ghana in the Upper East Region has decried the under-representation of women in the governance architecture of Ghana. According to the organization, despite women forming the majority in terms of population figures, the representation of women in various levels of governance does not reflect the population of women.
Per the 2021 Population and Housing Census, the population of women in Ghana is 15, 631, 579, which outnumbers that of the male population which stood at 15, 200,440.
Apart from being the majority in terms of population dynamics, more women suffer various forms of violence.
Per the Ghana 2022 Demographic and Health Survey report, 14% of women aged 15-49 have ever experienced sexual violence by any perpetrator, including 6% of women who have experienced sexual violence in the last 12 months.
In the Upper East Region, only 5 women won to represent their respective electoral areas at the municipal and district assemblies.
Based on these, ActionAid Ghana in the region as part of marking the International Women’s Day calls for concerted efforts to address the poor representation of women in governance.
The call was made Friday, March 8, 2024, during a public forum organized by ActionAid in collaboration with members of the Young Urban Women’s Movement in the regional capital, Bolgatanga
Speaking during the event held under the theme; “Count Her in: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress with a call to inspire inclusion, Yakubu Akuka, a Programme Officer with ActionAid in Upper East, decried the under-representation of women in all spheres of governance.
He questioned why women form the majority but lag in terms of representation as he called on the government to invest in the economic empowerment of women. He hopes that parents will equally be responsive to the needs of their children, especially the girl-child.
“Ghana’s efforts in this regard have been noteworthy, although much remains to be done. The Government of Ghana’s National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy (2017-2022) set out to increase access to finance for women as part of a comprehensive strategy to increase financial inclusion to underpin inclusive macroeconomic growth and development. Other Government interventions such as credit lines to SMEs through the Ghana Enterprises Agency, the Ghana Women Fund, and others continue to provide a lifeline to women-empowered businesses,” he said.
“Gender inequality in Ghana’s political system is very high with few women included in government. Although some improvement has been seen over the years in the increase of women’s participation in politics in the country, there is still more work to ensure gender parity in politics, governance, and decision-making in Ghana. Taking the December 2020 election as a case study, only 40 out of the 126 women contested in the parliamentary elections were elected.
There are few women in Ghana’s politics and government because few women contest in the elections (out of the 914 parliamentary candidates in the 2020 general elections, there were only 126 women). While this view is true, it is because women are not given adequate support within their political parties to contest for political positions.” He stressed.
According to the Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Gender, James Twene, Women deserve to be celebrated.
