A project that seeks to increase public support for women's participation in politics was launched in Accra on Wednesday stressing on the need to build the capacity of women.
The project dubbed: "We Know Politics II", also hopes that the Government and the main political parties produced an affirmative action
that would ensure at least 40 per cent women representation in party positions and elections.
The three-year project targets 24 districts in 10 Regions and jointly implemented by WiLDAF, International Federation of Women Lawyers, Ghana
(FIDA), the Hunger Project and Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre.
It is supported by the European Union (EU), Department of International Development (DFID) of UK and Womankind World-wide, an international women's NGO.
Ghana, currently, has only 19 women Parliamentarians out of the 230 representing about 8.3 per cent and only 11 women out of the 170 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.
Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, launching the project, expressed worry that the number of women who had the chance to enter Parliament continued to reduce.
She said gender equality was one of the pillars that under-pinned good governance and noted that participation of women in decision-making was a pre-requisite for justice in any country.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah, a beneficiary of phase one of the project, sharing personal experiences, said that it was important that such projects that
sought to boost women participation in decision-making and governance started the process earlier than the usual campaign time.
"If women participants do not start their educational campaign early enough by the time they get any help the die is cast in favour of the men contestant," she stressed.
The Sector Minister lauded members of Women in Law and Development, Ghana (WiLDAF) and partners for launching the project ahead of the usual campaign time.
Mrs Bernice Sam, National Programmes Coordinator, WiLDAF, Ghana, said the low number of women in politics limited their contribution to
development, poverty reduction and the achievement of gender equality.
"Although in law there is no discrimination against women, in politics, there are overt and covert practices which hinder women's abilities to
contest fairly with their men counterparts," she said.
Mrs Sam mentioned the monetisation of political elections and some traditional beliefs as factors that created unfair opportunities for women venturing into politics and governance.
She called on the media to portray women positively rather than using their reports to perpetuate stereotypes that prevented women from playing active part in political decision-making.
"Governance is not a myth and everybody can participate," she stressed.
Madam Rebecca Asamoah, a beneficiary of phase one of the project, said after being trained by the "We Know Politics I" team she had been able to mobilise women in her community and currently had five women ready to contest the up-coming district level elections.
"I could not speak in public as I am doing now, but now I am an active decision maker in my community and in my home. I don't allow my husband to take all the decisions in the home. I join him in decision-making," she said.
The "We Know Politics II" project would train about 600 community people in governance, organise sensitisation workshops for specific groups like men only, women only, disabled persons, youth and students as well as traditional leaders.
There would also be a high level meeting with the Government and four other political parties to assess progress of women in Ghana since 2008 in addition to tracking and documenting performance of women Members of Parliament through observation and the Parliamentary Hansard.