She said the promulgation of the law would emphasise quota for women representation in political party hierarchies. Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye cited America as one of the countries where registrations of political parties were only allowed if there existed significant percentage of female candidates.

Speaking on the topic; “Untangling the relationship between Affirmative Action and Progress in women’s Candidature: the Role of Political Parties, she said although there had been an improvement in women representation over the years, there was still more to be done.

She was speaking at a Policy dialogue jointly organised by FIDA Ghana and Friedrich Ebert Stifung (FES) for Political Party representatives, on the passage of the AA bill at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region on Monday. The dialogue with representatives of political parties was to raise the consciousness of the hierarchy to discuss the need to support women in governance by abolishing barriers that prohibited the effective participation of women in politics.

Mrs Dwamena- Aboagye said the AA when passed into law, would give healthy psychological shift towards sense of recognition adding that “countries that have succeeded in achieving the critical mass of women in positions of leadership through AA have had a shift in the mind set of society about women and leadership.

“Political parties that will do well in passing AA Bill into Law would have massive support from women. Parties who also implement the law would enjoy same from women”. Ms Susan Aryeetey, the Acting Executive Director of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Ghana, called for the swift passage of the Affirmative Action (AA) Bill which was currently before Parliament.

She said it was only when the AA was passed that women empowerment networks and party leaders would be able to hold political parties accountable for the 40 per cent representation of women at decision making levels.  She criticised the current abysmal representation of women in Parliament, saying it was woefully inadequate hence the need to remedy this through the passage of AA Bill, to rectify gender-based inequalities that had inhibited equal political participation.

Ms Aryeetey said the AA bill, would among others, provide a clear and coherent direction and policy measures for promoting gender equality in politics. She insisted that it was widely acknowledged that the failure to include; women and their perspectives in political decision making weakens the legitimacy of democratically elected institutions and deprived them of their right to participate effectively in the governance of their societies.

“We anticipate that by the end of this section participants would be equipped to learn how to incorporate AA measures into party policies to increase the full participation and representation of women in our democracy”, she said. Dr Joyce Aryee, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Mines, noted that although there were no laws that inhibited the progress of women, traditional norms and beliefs inhibited their progress in that direction.

“Out of the 275 seats in Parliament, there are only 38 women. This can no longer be acceptable because the playing field is not levelled. We need to deliberately create allies within Parliament so that AA Bill would be seen as a good thing.” She explained that the AA Bill if passed into law would not lower the bar, but rather give equal opportunities for women at all levels.

She insisted that when women were included; in the helm of affairs they could properly engage in issues that affected society to ensure rapid growth of the economy, and therefore called for deliberate efforts to reserve safe seats for women with merit at all political party levels.  Ms Ernestina Ofoe, the Programmes Coordinator, FES called for a sustained advocacy on the AA bill at the grass roots.

Ms Ofoe said the country’s failure to promote gender equality could give rise to destructive tendencies that could negatively affect sustainable development and further institutionalise the marginalisation of women. Ghana, she said, neeed the dynamic participation of political parties and Members of Parliament to ensure important political mobilisation on the AA bill, to transform the exercise of power of women.

Nana Oye Lithur, the former Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, expressing her view on incorporating provisions under the draft AA Bill, called for a bottom-up approach, with the engagement of women in political parties, to ascertain what role they could play should the Bill be passed and incorporated into their respective manifestoes and agenda. She said there was also the need to educate the women to play active frontline roles, citing what their counterparts did in the abolition of the apartheid regime in South Africa, and to mobilise total public support for the AA Bill for its full implementation at all levels