The Affirmative Action Coalition has refuted suggestions that the Affirmative Action Gender Equity bill which has been passed by Parliament will give women an unfair advantage over men.

Parliament passed the Affirmative Action Gender Equity Bill 2024, which has been under discussion for several years.

The bill was approved unanimously by the House to ensure that a significant number of women hold key positions in governance, public life, and decision-making, ultimately improving the lives of women across the country.

However, the bill is already being met with mixed reactions about fairness even before the President assents to it to become law.

The Convener for the Affirmative Action Coalition, Sheila Minka Premo says, that while they are hopeful that President Akufo-Addo will assent to it, they do not think it will give women an unfair advantage.

"There is nothing wrong if the government passes a law to bring in policies and programmes which will try to address the imbalance when it comes to gender equity and the law is structured in such a way that once the imbalance is addressed in a particular sector that programme has to end. So I don't think that it will lead to women having an unfair advantage over men, no," she stressed.

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The Affirmative Action Gender Equity Bill 2024 is expected to ensure that a critical number of women hold key positions in governance, public life, and decision-making spaces, thereby improving the lives of women in the country.

The law also seeks to encourage efforts towards addressing socio-cultural, political, economic, and educational gender imbalances in private and public sectors, per Clause 4 of Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution.

Its objective is to promote the progressive increase and active participation of women in public and active life from a minimum of 30 percent by 2030, under the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

But former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had earlier expressed his dissatisfaction with portions of the bill.

He argued that some of the bill’s content did not specifically address issues relevant to Ghana, but instead focused more on matters in other jurisdictions.

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South, voiced his concerns while speaking at the 15th MTN Pulse Africa Transform Summit in Kumasi.

He encouraged women to aspire but also to manage their aspirations.