ACTIONAID Ghana has launched a new manual designed to empower women to take a larger role in the governance and policies that shape their country.

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

The Manual entitled “Women in Leadership: A training manual for assembly women and women leaders” was launched in Accra last week. The aim of the publication is to help women participate more fully in local level politics as well as help larger women’s coalitions to engage with proceedings at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District levels.

The Manual provides skills and advice to women about how to inform themselves of local issues and how to create the confidence to take part.

This is not only a step toward social equality and justice, but a step toward better, more informed decision-making for the whole of Ghana.  By engaging in politics at every level, the manual explains, women will contribute to forwarding the interests of the largest demographic in the country and this, ultimately, will allow for better socio-policitcal development within Ghana.

TIME FOR WOMEN TO TAKE PART

The Manual project has come after many years of underrepresentation for Ghanaian women.  Due to its unstable political history, which has seen an almost regular alternation between strict military rule and democratic governments, women have been systemically excluded from taking part in the governance. Females comprise more than 50 percent of Ghana’s population yet are sadly underrepresented at the policy and decision-making level.

Since the fourth Republic was declared in 1993 things have gradually been improving, however, there is still a long way to go. Despite a (largely ignored) administrative mandate that assemblies at all levels in Ghana should be populated by at least 30 percent women representatives, females currently make up less than 4 percent of decision making officials.

Press releases are periodically held on the issue of women’s inclusion which help to highlight this inequality. The organizers, at the latest round of the press conferences in Accra, noted, “Given that 2010 is Ghana’s local government election year, it is important that women have a public platform to deliberate on their concerns in an open and transparent atmosphere in order to obtain policy responses that would impact positively on the gender equality issues of representation and substantive redress of their concerns.”

ActionAid grew concerned about the example this was setting for Ghanaian girls and youth and the effect it was having on their quality of life, as decisions that directly influence their lives were made almost exclusively by male authorities.  ActionAid noticed a trend in education funding which favoured males and a lack of farming aid to single mother families-those who most in need. This provides new options for women to be heard and make decisions that will benefit subsequent generations.