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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it seeks to ensure the expeditious enactment of the Affirmative Action Act to provide a framework for addressing gender related injustices as a bait to attract more vote in Election 2012. Propounding its gender blue print as captured in its Election 2012 manifesto: �Advancing the Better Ghana Agenda,� and made available to the Ghana News Agency, the party pledged to work with political parties and Civil Society Organizations to take the provisions of the Affirmative Action Act into account in sponsoring candidates for elections. It said it would enact legislation to cover women�s rights, including reproductive rights more comprehensively and ensure that all public institutions adopt gender policies including recruitment policies aimed at achieving a balanced human resourcing of their institutions in terms of gender. The party stated that it would work with the sponsors of the Women�s Manifesto to ensure that all municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) incorporate mainstream gender into their programmes as well as strategic plans. Under the next NDC government, policies of gender responsive budgeting would be adopted by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The government will also build on its record of women�s representation on all public Boards. The party reminded the electorate that in 2008, the NDC then in opposition promised to review the mandate of the Ministry of Women and Children�s Affairs (MOWAC) in line with national development aspirations and work towards 40 per cent women in public service and at conferences and congresses of the party. The NDC seeks to introduce major gender policy and legislation to mainstream gender issues in all aspects of national development; and to revise, update and implement its Affirmative Action Policy for Women issued in 1999. It said the party now in government was able to appoint women to the positions of Speaker of Parliament, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Minister of Trade and Industry, Commissioner for CHRAJ, and Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education. The rest are Government Statistician, Chief Executive of the Ghana Youth Authority, and Chairperson of the Ghana AIDS Commission while women were retained in office: the Chief Justice, Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission, and Chief Executive of the National Insurance Commission. It said the NDC Government was able to institute the �Women in Local Governance Fund,� in 2010 to support women participating in local government elections. The NDC said the government also established the Domestic Violence Fund and the Constitution Review Commission had made extensive proposals for improving the status of women in Ghana, which the NDC Government accepted in its White Paper. It said an Affirmative Action Bill had been drafted and Regional consultations conducted on the draft that is now being finalized by the Attorney-General�s Department. According to the document, the NDC administration through Parliament is enacting the �Property Rights of Spouses� and �Intestate Succession (Amendment)� Bills which are now in advanced stages of consideration in Parliament. Meanwhile a survey conducted by the National Commission for Civic Education ranked women and children issues as the number four out of 14 matters of concern to the Ghanaian voter in election 2012. On regional ranking of women and children issues; the Western Region ranked third; Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Central, Northern, Upper East, and Upper West considered it as the fourth highest priority in Election 2012; while Brong Ahafo ranked it fifth. According to the survey, overwhelming majority of 71.6 per cent were females whilst 27.9 per cent were male. The survey revealed that most people recommended that government should provide women with soft loans and that women and children issues should be given priority attention by the government. Other issues raised in the survey are that government should educate women and children on their rights and privileges, government should give free education to children, create more employment opportunities for women, offer higher positions and appointments equal to men, and women and children should be given free health care.