Increasing the participation of women in politics
The project which EPD is implementing
in Ghana together with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and DEMO
Finland, entitled Support to initiatives promoting peaceful, transparent and credible
elections in Ghana and increasing the participation of women in politics,
aims at further consolidating Ghanaian democracy by ensuring gender equality and
fairness in the democratic representation in Parliament. The ambition is to
improve both quantitatively and qualitatively the female presence in Ghana's legislature. More specifically, this project
has as an objective to increase the number of female MPs from 19 out of 230 to
40-60 out of 230 in the 2012 parliamentary elections. To achieve this objective
EPD and its partners have planned preliminary activities aimed at ensuring a
level electoral playing field for women in the political process.
Amongst
other activities the project includes: a joint workshop of political parties'
women's wings; a joint
workshop comprising political parties' women's wings and women from Civil
Society Organisations (CSOs); the publication of a Women's manual;
pre-primaries workshops for female parliamentary aspirants; post-primaries
workshops for female parliamentary candidates; post election capacity-building
workshops for female Members of Parliament; and an advocacy/media campaign
promoting female candidates. Implemented at three levels - intra-party,
inter-party and within the wider Ghanaian society through a CSO cooperation and
media campaign - these activities will not only increase women's visibility but
also ensure that the quality of their work in Parliament is augmented.
Gender-based discrimination is a cultural issue that needs to be addressed not only in Ghana but all over the world. For this reason, DEMO Finland and EPD decided to contribute to breaking this historical chain, thus preventing it from becoming a natural reflex inside the Ghanaian society. Furthermore, by eliminating gender-based discrimination Ghana will make one step further towards true and meaningful democracy.