Media Collaboration critical in the achievement of Affirmative Action Policy

The Media has been asked to make discussions on Affirmative Action on Women's participation in political decision-making part of the country's development discourse and not a political issue.

Affirmative action is a policy deliberately designed to create equal opportunity for groups who have been affected negatively from existing institutional and traditional processes and structures.

Speaking at a media sensitisation seminar on Affirmative Action Policy by WiLDAF in Accra, the Executive Director of WiLDAF Ghana, Ms Bernice Sam, decried that since Ghana had not put in place adequate structures to increase women's access to political decision making, the Affirmative Action Policy (AAP) was the temporary measure to address the inequality.

According to her, in spite of the several UN Charters and Conventions signed and ratified by Ghana that calls for between 30 and 40 % female representation at all levels of power and governance it has not happened.

Regardless of this, there were some achievements through the strong mobilization and advocacy role by women or gender-based civil society organizations between 1993 and 2008. She explained that 2009 had not seen much female representation in the political sphere.

"Now there are only 19 women MPs since one passed away' she said. 'It is a sad event in our history because it seems we are not matching our words with action.'

In a related development, the Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, Mrs. Adwoa Kwarteng-Kluvitse has stressed that all forms of affirmative action including quotas must be supported in Ghana.

According to her, quotas are not discriminatory, they rather compensate for the historical exclusion of women from politics while work to change societal attitudes and behaviour is ongoing.

"Worldwide, she noted, quotas are said to have significantly increased women's participation and representation in both elective and appointive political decision-making positions. It can therefore be established in a country's constitution or its electoral law or can be voluntary on the part of political parties or governments."

So far in Ghana, the total number of ministerial and deputy ministerial appointments in 2009 is 75. Out of this 60 are men (80%) and 15 are women (20%).

Eleven women out of 166 were appointed as metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. Out of 25 membership of the Council of State 3 (12%) are women and 22 men (88%).

There is one woman regional minister against 9 men and none on the Government Economic Advisory Council with total membership of 10.

Mr. Frank Bodza of WiLDAF mentioned South Africa, Rwanda, Sweden and The Netherlands as countries that have successfully implemented affirmative action through the quota system and hoped Ghana would do same.

Under its governance programme, he explained WiLDAF Ghana would continue the advocacy to get government's attention to come out with a concrete affirmative action policy for women's participation in politics and governance.

WiLDAF began its campaign on AAP in 2008 and has identified several key stakeholders to engage with, including the media. So far, WiLDAF has developed a model on AAP which will be submitted to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC) and the Attorney General's Office as their contribution towards AAP, while hoping that eventually parliament will make it law.