The Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South East Constituency in the Ashanti region, Yakubu Mohammed, says Parliament is working to increase the quota of women in political appointments.

Parliament in 2024 passed the Affirmative Action Act to include a 30 percent quota for women in political appointments.

In the implementation of the law, Yakubu Mohammed tells Joynews parliament is working to increase participation of women in governance to 45 percent to promote gender equity.

“I think that society-wise, women are naturally vulnerable when men try to bully women. So I think that the right of women is something that we need to have much attention on and that’s why I am so happy with the Affirmative Action Law that has been passed by parliament for women to have a percentage.

The Affirmative Action Law is to ensure the achievement of gender equality in political, social, economic, educational, and cultural spheres in Ghana.

It also seeks to eliminate gender disparities by implementing progressive measures, thereby evaluating their impact periodically.

Women’s rights groups celebrated the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill on July 30, 2024, by Ghana’s parliament.

It is targeting a gender representation of 30% by 2026, 35% by 2028, and 50% by 2030 in appointments to public offices, governance positions, decision-making roles, and leadership positions across various sectors.

A Canadian non-governmental organisation supporting rural women, Socodevi, as part of events commemorating International Women’s Day, has been educating women in agricultural areas on the act at Abesewa near Adugyama in the Ashanti region.

Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South East Constituency, Yakubu Mohammed, says women who are marginalised and vulnerable must be protected at all times.

“Currently we are working on it so that we can even have about 45 percent of women in governance and the current law gives 30%. We are working so hard to affirm the 45 percent. “

Mr. Mohammed is pledging to allocate almost half of his MP’s Common Fund to support the well-being of women in his constituency where women are marginalized.

“In Ahafo Ano South East here, we tend to think women are not equal as men.

As a member of parliament, we want to ensure that the right of women are really taken good care of.  So the first thing I want to use about 40 percent of my Common Fund, the Educational  and Social Fund so that we can increase girl-child education.”

A member of the Steering Committee, Aba Oppong, is encouraging women, especially those in rural areas, to vie for political positions despite the failure of the current National Democratic Congress government to give 30 percent of appointments to women.

She is hopeful a conducive environment, as prescribed by the law, would be put in place to support women's participation.

“Every woman in Ghana is a Ghanaian. Because you are a Ghanaian, you can also aspire to be put in great decision making at the national level, regional level and the district level. So you cannot say that because I come from a rural area I will sit down and throw my hands in despair. Everybody qualifies.”

Meanwhile, Lilian Kuutiero, Gender Equality Coordinator for Together Project, one of the flagship programs of Socodevi, revealed the NGO is supporting women in cooperative groups in cocoa production areas with alternative but sustainable income-generating projects.

This includes fish farming, input supplies, and poultry, among others.

“At Socodevi, the ‘Project Together’ is what we are implementing with the cooperatives in Ahafo Ano South East and as part of the project, one of them is empowerment of the women and the youth in that community.  

Today being International Women’s Day, we celebrated it here to give them that opportunity to assess information at about the new act, the new Gender Equity Act of Ghana. We used this opportunity to educate them   and to encourage them to position themselves very well to take opportunities that Ghana provides for women and children. “

The event was attended by officials of COCOBOD, Social Welfare Department, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Department of Cooperatives.