The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection firmly believes that an equal representation of women and men in decision-making reflects a more accurate composition of the society. More importantly, it reflects the society’s commitment to international and national commitments to women and gender equality. Consequently, the Ministry is fully committed to ensuring the passage of the Affirmative Action Law to enhance women’s representation in Ghana’s democratic process. The Ministry recognises that generally, Ghanaian women face a myriad of challenges that make them disadvantaged in terms of representation and participation in the country’s democratic process. This is reflected in the low representation of women in politics and decision making structures at all levels. While there have been some positive developments by all stakeholders and political parties in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality, the efforts are not commensurate with the results. Several international conventions ratified by Ghana have sections that promote women’s involvement in formal decision-making. Specifically, Article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) stresses that all states “take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in politics and public life in the country”. Consequently, the Ministry believes the passage of the Affirmative Action Law is a strategy to achieve Gender Equality. Furthermore, an Affirmative Action law is Ghana’s only way of attaining gender equality with respect to women’s participation in decision making. This is because it provides legally mandated systems, structures and policies to ensure women’s equal participation. It is in line with this commitment that the Ministry has spearheaded the process and achieved significant results as follows: • Regional and national consultative stakeholder workshop for inputs on the drafting of the Proposal for the Affirmative Action Bill has taken place • A validation workshop which agreed that the instructions for the drafting of the Bill be submitted to the Consultant engaged for the drafting of the Bill by May 31, 2013 • Other agreed actions and their related timeframe for the finalization of the Affirmative Action Act and its related Legislative Instrument (LI) include the following: a. Submission of the Bill for Cabinet approval and lobbying scheduled from August to September, 2013 b. Laying of the Bill in Parliament and the various stages for its enactment to be held from September to October, 2013 The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection wishes to reiterate its firm commitment to ensuring the passage of the Affirmative Action Law. It is anticipated that the Law would address the startling gender inequalities in our socio-economic and political spheres to enable women contribute to national development. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is the Government Machinery mandated to ensure the promotion of gender equality through the mainstreaming of gender considerations to all persons especially the vulnerable. =END= Signed: Mercy C. Adjabeng (Communications Advisor) Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection MINISTRY OF GENDER, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL PROTECTION IS COMMITTED TO THE PASSAGE OF THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LAW Date: May 21st, 2013