Women's
empowerment has been a topic of discussion all over the world. One of the major
means of empowering women throughout the world is equal participation in
politics. Bridging gender inequality gaps has been a key issue since 1995,
following the Beijing Conference. The concept of providing an enabling
environment for women to realize their deepest aspirations stems from the
perception that women are weaker and at a disadvantage due to their role in
society and as the weaker sex. Various authors have maintained that beliefs
concerning gender differences are drawn from classical ideas, Christian
ideology, and contemporary science and medicine (Gambetti, 2003; Blakemore, 1998).
The Empowerment of Women as a Key Strategy for Development is Presented in Section 13 of the Beijing Declaration on the Status of Women in Beijing: "Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace." When attempting to address gender disparity through empowerment measures, the following questions must be considered critically; what are we aiming to empower to equalize? How do we ensure equal participation and inclusion of women in political processes at all levels? Have women been given enough position in all aspect of political processes in Ghana?
Promoting gender equality and women's empowerment has been an effective development plan. It was the third goal set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also one of the goals that has remained unattained. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize Goal five (5) of this continuous imbalance and have set out to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls before 2030. This goal is crucial to "ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life."
Ghana
is now ranked 147 out of 186 in the Inter-Parliamentary Union's global
assessment of women's representation in parliament. Only 40 of the 275 members
are women, accounting for a minuscule 14.55% of the total number of lawmakers.
The local and district-level scenarios
are like the national picture. This does not speak well for Ghana's democratic status in the committee of nations because it contradicts Ghana's democratic standing with the rest of Africa. Rwanda, for example, ranks first in the world with 61.3% female representation in the national parliament.
Getting equal numbers of men and women in politics is challenging because there isn't an affirmative action bill, people have a patriarchal mindset, there isn't enough funds, women don't help each other, and there isn't enough mentoring.
References
https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=8&year=2022
UNDP, (2014). UNDP Gender and Equality Strategy 2014-2017, the Future we want: Right and Empowerment. New York.
This is a very important topic not just for discussion but also for implementation. It is very crucial that women are involved in the process of politics and policy-making. As someone from Africa, I know how this can be utterly difficult and almost impossible as a lot of African countries are very patriarchal in nature. Thus, including women can pose to be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteHowever, after reading Doris' post on Affirmative Action and Development in Ghana, I am hopeful that involving women in politics or policy-making is not totally impossible. The Act gives room for 10 women members to represent the region of the country and the Bill is important as it cuts across the importance and validity of involving women in development and politics. While this looks good on paper, I wish we would have more examples of its implementation.
Just as we have been reading in this class, WID and GAD policies gives room for making women’s interests and experiences a vital factor or contributor to the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies, programs, and legislation. And I hope we can have more of that in Africa.
Hi Abubakar
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that women should be encouraged to enter politics. I appreciated how you emphasized the current gender representation in parliament. According to records, the current representation is the largest thus far, which may seem quite discouraging. Ghanaian politics has been arranged in a way that favors the strongest and fittest. In Ghanaian society, women are considered as weak, patient, and understanding, whereas men are viewed as the opposite. Ghanaians feel that if women are given the opportunity to represent them at the national level, they will be unable to make a substantial contribution. This belief has affected women's representation in parliament.