Some gender activists in the country yesterday used the celebration of the International Women’s Day (IWD) to rally stakeholders to demand the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into law, as a matter of urgency.
At a national dialogue held in Accra to mark the day, the activists stressed that the passage of the bill would be the best way to empower women and make them active participants in decision making.
Speaking at the dialogue, a former judge at the International Criminal Court, Professor Akua Kuenyehia, stressed that the time had come for women groups to act in unison and mount pressure on the government to pass the bill.
“The country’s statistics show that women constitute 51 percent of the population but there is still discrimination against them in all spheres of human endeavour. We must come together and be committed as women groups to ensure that women have a say in the governance of this country," she stressed.
She also pointed out the need to educate and mobilize women groups and gender activists to help fight against regimes that impeded gender equality.
Affirmative Action
The Affirmative Action Bill, which has suffered a number of setbacks for about 10 years now, was supposed to increase the participation of women in decision making.
It provides for a 40 per cent representation and participation of women in governance, public positions of power and decision making.
The bill also proposes that anyone who insults a woman just because she is vying for public office should be liable for prosecution.
For instance, Clause 38 of the draft bill says that: “A person who victimizes, obstructs or exerts undue influence and submits a female politician to verbal attack, among others, commits an offence.”
A promise made by a former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP), Nana Oye Lithur, to ensure that the bill was passed by the end of 2016 was not fulfilled.
In November 2017, the then sector minister, Mrs Otiko Afisa Djaba, also launched a campaign dubbed: ‘HeforShe’, an initiative that sought to push for Parliament to pass the bill.
Following the delays in passing the bill, many gender activists have been critical of the government for dragging its feet in the passage of the bill into law.
In May 2018, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ensure that the Affirmative Action Bill was passed into law before the 2019 State of the Nation address, but that did not happen.
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