Politics of Sunday, 8 March 2015
Source: citifmonline.com
The Centre for Democratic Development(CDD) Ghana has described as appalling, the representation of women in key democratic institutions.
Though the group lauds progress in upholding the rights of women and promoting equality, CDD believes there is more work to be done in order to ensure an equal representation of both men and women in politics.
The group argued that although women make up 51% of the population according to the 2010 population census; the same cannot be said about women’s representation in local and national decision-making processes.
Speaking to Citi News, the Research Officer at CDD Ghana, Mavis Zupork said government must prioritize women empowerment to ensure that their rights are recognised.
“We are not saying that the government is not doing well and we are not saying that as a nation we are not doing well. We are saying that there is more to be done. Let’s look at not just creating the opportunity but lets look at empowering women to want to take up these positions, to want to be out there to also contribute to the democratic development of this country,” she stated.
This year’s International Women’s Day is under the theme, ‘Empowering Women, Empowering humanity: Picture it!
Multi-sectoral intervention
Meanwhile the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong has called for a broader based multi-sectoral intervention to ensure the advancement of women’s empowerment agenda.
Her call comes 19 years after the adaptation of the Beijing declaration which was aimed at giving more prominence to the recognition of women’s rights.
The Attorney General stated that Ghana is yet to attain the 30 percent target of women’s representation in decision –making set by the Platform for action.
Her comments come on the back of the launch of activities to mark International Women’s day throughout the month of March.
The program will focus on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Beijing Women’s Conference in 1995.
The conference was a historic roadmap which saw Ghana and some 189 countries around the world adopt the Beijing Declaration to set the agenda for realizing women’s rights.