VOTE FOR WOMEN IN ASSEMBLY POLLS (PAGE 12, SEPT 11, 2010)

THE Ghanaian electorate has been called upon to vote massively for women candidates in the forthcoming District Assembly elections.
This will go a long way to get more women to participate in the local level of decision-making and governance to ensure sustainable development for all.
The Executive Secretary of the Christian Mothers’ Association (CMA), Mrs Elizabeth Addai Boateng, said women, who had been at the periphery of the society managing homes and being responsible for the upbringing of children, had demonstrated over the years that they were important in the socio-economic development the country.
She said this at a four-day capacity-building workshop held at Abesim, near Sunyani, for 40 women and 10 men contesting the forthcoming district assembly election in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The workshop, organised by the CMA in collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), was on the theme “Increased Numbers of Women in Political Decision-Making – A Pre-requisite for Good Governance and National Development.”
Among the topics treated at the four-day workshop were Gender Perspectives on Active Politics in Ghana, Women in Political Decision Making, a Pre-requisite for Development of Ghana, Gender Mainstreaming, Good Governance, Art of Public Speaking, and Simulation of the Campaign Platform.
Mrs. Boateng called on men contesting in areas where there are women candidates to step down as a means of getting more women to the local level of decision-making to ensure sustainable development.
She also called on their males contesting the assembly election to support the female contestants in their campaign efforts in order for them to be elected.
Mr Michael Amponsah, the Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), who presented a paper on “Gender Perspectives on Active Politics in Ghana”, said women occupied very few political positions in the country and this inequality should be addressed to ensure development.
He mentioned some of the factors that had created this inequality between men and women at the decision-making level as low level of education and confidence, coupled with the societal perception that the Ghanaian society was a male-dominated one, which makes participation of women difficult.
Mr Amponsah noted that it was time that certain interventions were put in place to reserve these trends and urged the media to lead the campaign to get more women at the decision-making level of the country.
Mr Ebo Barkers, the Sunyani East Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Mr Michael Nsiah Agyepong, former District Chief Executive (DCE) for Asutifi, called on women to be confident and courageous in all their endeavours.
They further urged women who had the ambition to go into public life to eschew all negative tendencies that cast a slur on their image and their efforts.