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Empowering Women in Politics: A Call for Action and Awareness in Ghana’s Electoral System

At the recent launch of the Strengthening Capacities on Gender Equality and Socially Inclusive Ghana’s Elections 2024 and Beyond project, Madam Dorcas Coker-Appiah, Executive Director of the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Center, issued a compelling call for greater inclusion of women in Ghana’s political landscape.

Speaking at the event held on November 6, 2024, at the Sunlodge Hotel in Accra, she highlighted both societal and structural obstacles to women’s participation and outlined the essential role of community awareness in bringing change.

“Women’s participation starts with addressing societal perceptions of their roles,” Coker-Appiah stated. “It has a lot of factors that affect the non-participation of women. And we have to look at how women are perceived in life in our societies.”

The Executive Director noted that despite progress, Ghanaian society still leans heavily on patriarchal norms that reserve leadership roles for men, particularly in governance and health-related decisions.

These deeply ingrained cultural expectations, she argued, create a barrier for women, as they are often not seen as natural decision-makers.

“When it comes to participation, we don’t think that women have a role to play,” she continued. “It is not only about education. In rural communities, there are women who are educated.

Not every man in parliament or district assemblies has a high level of education; some have basic education. So if a man with basic education can participate as an assembly member, why can’t a woman with the same qualification?”

This statement challenges the common misconception that education alone determines a person’s ability to lead. Coker-Appiah emphasized that it’s more about how society views and values women’s contributions than their educational background.

The outdated notion that “a woman’s place is only in the kitchen” persists, though, as she pointed out, “we have gone past that” given that many women—educated or not—possess invaluable wisdom and knowledge about their communities.

“When we are talking about development, everybody has a role to play in our national development,” she added. “How do we identify the potential of women within our communities and use them?”

In addition to challenging social norms, the project’s goals extend to enhancing the enforcement of gender equality laws. Ghana already has legal frameworks to encourage women’s participation, but the Executive Director argued that these laws are often ineffective without clear implementation strategies and active public awareness.

Coker-Appiah referenced existing laws that mandate political parties to include women in leadership roles, yet without public understanding of these laws, their impact remains limited.

“We can have laws, but if you don’t have strategies for implementation, the law on its own will not work,” she explained. “Apart from what the government has to do, civil society also plays a role. We have to raise awareness so that ordinary citizens can hold political parties accountable.”

For Coker-Appiah, public knowledge of gender equality laws is essential for progress. By educating communities, citizens can demand accountability from political parties to fulfill legal obligations regarding female representation. Without awareness, she warned, many laws risk being ignored.

“There are several laws on our books that, because the citizenry is not aware of them, we are not able to hold our governments to account,” she said. “If the law says I have to get something, and I don’t know about it, you forget to implement that law because the person who’s supposed to benefit does not know.”

The Strengthening Capacities on Gender Equality and Socially Inclusive Ghana’s Elections 2024 and Beyond project aims to build community awareness and empower citizens to advocate for female representation, enabling Ghana’s electoral system to reflect the country’s diverse voices.

 

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