Political Participation & Leadership
Women politicians in the Upper West Region have called on political parties to institute a quota system that will enable more women candidates to contest for parliamentary seats.
They also suggested that the position of a First Vice Chairperson, Treasurer and Women’s Organizer at the Constituency, Regional and National levels be reserved solely for women.
This, they said, would not only increase women involvement in political party activities but also their participation in politics in general.
This was made known during a dialogue session with representatives of political parties in the region.
The women said it was disheartening to note that men sometimes threatened to take away the position of Women Organizer away from their female counterparts.
They noted that the over ambitious nature of men to grab political leadership positions contributed greatly to the low involvement of women in politics.
They identified low financial capability, high illiteracy rate among women as well as traditional and cultural values, as some of the factors militating against women participation in politics.
The dialogue session was organised by ProNet North, as part of the implementation of its “Women in Politics Project”.
The project is in collaboration with Concern Universal Ghana and funded by the European Commission.
Ms. Nerissa Piehiba Bankpiebu, the Project Coordinator, said the dialogue session was aimed at whipping up the pro-activeness of political parties and government towards gender mainstreaming in electing and appointing women to higher offices and positions of trust.
“This is envisaged to equip political leaders and appointing authorities with the consciousness of appointing women, who are tried and tested to get the opportunity to contribute their quota to national development”, she stated.
She said through the project, an Inter-party Women’s Alliance (IWA) was formed to carry out advocacy across the targeted districts to boost women’s interest in National and Local Government elections.