Ghana’s Affirmative Action Bill passed on the back of African Women’s Day celebration

One may call it a coincidence and it actually was.  As Ghana’s Parliament passed the decades-awaited Affirmative Action Bill, on a continental level, there was a celebration of some of Africa’s key women who had blazed the trail in the area of energy as their contribution to climate change in their respective countries.

Though breaking news in every sense, shockingly, the passing of the Affirmative Action Bill received very low key in the Ghanaian media. Was it of no interest? I wondered.

But whatever the case, we the women of Ghana see it as a big thump up to the eighth Parliament of the fourth Republic and a great victory for inclusivity of women in private and public spaces, henceforth.

African women

With Africa Women’s Day raising awareness of the dedication of the African woman in her respective country throughout the month-long celebration, one got reminded that ours is a progressive continent successfully producing its first Prime Minister in the person of Madam Elisabeth Domitien, Prime Minister of Central African Republic, from 1975 to 1976, even before Great Britain had its Mrs Margaret Thatcher as its first female Prime Minister.

Since then, Africa has had a few more Prime Ministers and Presidents. A positive sign of resilience and potential.

Though Ghana per se has not moved anything beyond a female Speaker of Parliament or Chief Justice, one believes Affirmative Action which seeks to recognise, support and provide remedies for any wrong and imbalances that exist in our midst will be a game changer, bringing inclusivity in many more spaces and ultimately, to the very top.

Boards

Admittedly, of late, there have been some deliberate plans in place by corporations and some public institutions to engage women in higher management and board positions.  However, the numbers are not that encouraging seeing the level of education, dedication, hard work and commitment women are displaying in the public space.

A cursory look starting with the number of women in today’s Parliament, speaks to the issue at hand.  There are just 40 female members of parliament out of the 275 members. Converted into a percentage, it is a woeful 14.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, a sister African country, Rwanda, which reportedly has the highest number of women in parliament in the world with 61.25 per cent, has shown that inclusivity is possible despite our traditional inhibitions.

Private and public boards are just as well wanting when it comes to the proportion of female versus male representations. At a time of the year when publicly listed companies hold their Annual General Meetings, it needs not to tell the skewed representation of female and male members on the Boards of our listed companies.

Just this week, in accordance with Article 168 of the Constitution, Section 2(1)(e) of the National Media Commission Act, 1993 (Act 449), “The Commission, in consultation with the President”, announced new governing Boards of public Corporations managing state-owned media, guess what, of the four Boards namely Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Graphic Communications Group Ltd. Ghana News Agency and New Times Corporation, out of a total of 35 board members, only seven are women.

With the Affirmative Action Bill now passed, there is every hope that the Bill will change the equation for good as both public and private institutions are put on the radial as collectively, they gear towards inclusivity to help the country meet its commitment to move from a minimum of 30 per cent to 50 per cent inclusivity.

SDGs

The problem now is how Ghana is going to catch up, within a matter of six years if it has to meet the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which we as a country have endorsed.

According to the SDGs, a country’s measure for inclusivity measured by the number of women in public positions will have to move from a minimum of 30 percent to 50 percent by the year 2030.

That perhaps is the general concern of the organisers of the African Women’s Day celebration for the continent. Their focus last month was on the legacy of African women in leadership across the continent.

The celebration looked at the influence of such women in the area of energy on climate change and resilient development as espoused by the Africa Union’s climate change development strategy and action plan.

With emphasis on a commitment to “leave no one behind”, speaker after speaker at the just-ended Women’s Day event on Wednesday which climaxed the month-long focus, sought to highlight the potential of the African woman in energy, a key up-and-coming economic drive on the continent.

The team brought to the fore the important and inevitable role of women in climate change in their respective countries. No doubt, they sought an alignment with the UN’s SDG4 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 goals 4,7 and 17 which all seek to promote inclusivity.

Ghana is definitely aligned with the goals of the African Union and ultimately the UN SDGs. With the Affirmative Action now passed, we are on the path to achieving inclusivity.  Nothing should stop us from reaching for gold come 2030.