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The Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana) has described the decision by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to promote affirmative action as a step in the right direction.

A statement issued by FIDA-Ghana said by its decision to exclusively allow women to contest the 16 parliamentary seats presently in the hands of its female MPs, it had demonstrated the party’s commitment to actualise the rhetorical verbal promises by Ghanaian leaders and political parties through their speeches and manifestos to use affirmative action as a strategy to bridge the yawning gender gaps and to ensure equitable representation of women in the political arena. 

It said the NPP was backing their words with actions and shown political will to remedy the situation. 

Figures of female representation

It pointed out that the figures of female representation over the years had been abysmal, indicating that in 2008, the representation of women in Parliament was less than 10 per cent, while efforts by political parties to increase women’s participation in decision making during the 2012 elections resulted in a nominal increase in the number of women who entered Parliament. 

It said the 30 seats won by women, which represents a woeful 10.9 per cent of the total number of parliamentarians, with men forming the majority, faded in significance when compared with the total number of 275 seats.

The statement recalled that living in a globalised world, Ghana was aware of the positive effects that affirmative action had had in countries such as Rwanda and Uganda where some parliamentary seats had actually been reserved for women, stressing that Ghana was also a signatory to many international and regional conventions that enjoined state parties to come up with affirmative action policies and guidelines to promote and increase women’s participation in decision-making.

Focus on affirmative action

“Focus on affirmative action has so far been in relation to government administration and machinery and, therefore, this move at the party level can be seen as an innovative one,” it said. 

According to the statement, the reactions following the party’s decision to reserve the parliamentary seats for the women gave a clear indication that many had still not understood the reasons for affirmative action and there was an urgent need for education on the issue for all Ghanaians. 

It explained that affirmative action had never been tenable among people not only in Ghana but worldwide because it was perceived to be discriminatory against one group of people while enhancing the status of another. 

“However, what affirmative action seeks to do is to correct or rectify the structural injustices in society which result in deep-seated discrimination against women, minority and socially excluded groups. Such discrimination tends to affect sustainable growth and national development,” it said.

Ghana’s obligations 

According to the statement, Ghana had obligations under international and regional instruments such as the UN Convention on the Political Rights of Women, the CEDAW, the African Union (AU) Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) Gender Development Policy. These instruments which promote the rights of women recommend, where necessary, the taking of positive discriminatory steps to remedy the inequalities between women and men in all areas including the political arena. 

It made reference to Article 17(4) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides the framework for the preservation of human rights and gives Parliament the power to enact laws for implementing policies and programmes that aim at redressing social, economic and educational imbalance in the Ghanaian society.