Political parties have been called upon to move beyond acknowledging the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act to actively implementing its provisions.

They have been urged to do this by, among other things, institutionalising gender equity within their party systems.

The call was made at a dialogue organised by the Affirmative Action Act Coalition for representatives from various political parties on the implementation of the AA Act.

The dialogue, which was aimed at increasing awareness and understanding among political parties of their obligations under the AA Act (Act 1121), was organised under the Star Ghana Foundation Project, with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen accountability, public education, and multi-stakeholder collaboration towards the effective implementation of Act 1121.

The Convenor of the AA Act, Sheila Minkah-Premo, who made the call during a presentation, said implementation of the gender equity targets should be treated as a strategic priority, with clear targets, timelines and internal accountability mechanisms.

She, among other recommendations, called for a reform in party structures by amending party constitutions and introducing internal quotas or benchmarks to ensure gender balance in party leadership.

She also asked political parties to support women candidates by reducing or waiving filing fees, as already pertains in most parties, provide campaign financing support and ensure an equitable resource distribution.

Mrs Minkah-Premo further explained that the Act also obligates the government, under Public Sector Appointments (Sec 14-18), to ensure the appropriate representation of women in governance and decision-making positions, particularly the public services and ministerial positions.

A member of the ABANTU for Development, who is the host of the AA Act Coalition, Hamida Harrison, in an address, said it was evident that continuous inequality between men and women in decision-making raised a number of specific concerns regarding the achievement of an effective social transformation and the entire process of democratisation.

She said the health of a given country's political system could be assessed by the level of women's representation in the political institutions and that there was a global consensus that political parties could not be neglected in the pursuit of healthy democracies.

A representative from Star Ghana, Raymond Danso, in a statement, praised the efforts of civil society organisations and women's rights activists that led to the passage of the AA Act.

He said for nearly three decades, there was a lot of disappointments, lobbying, resilience and advocacy on the Act, saying given that this level of effort has gone into the passage was a testament that as a country, “we are very serious and passionate about women’s rights”.

Another representative from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Isaac Mensah, in an address, said since the passage of the Act, significant progress had been made, and made particular mention of a Gender Equity Committee as required by the act, which has been duly inaugurated and has so far held three meetings to review key frameworks, including the strategic implementation plan, a communication plan and the gender equity compliance certificate.

Also, he said the legislative instrument to operationalise the Act has been finalised and laid before parliament.

Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, a social policy analyst, who chaired the dialogue session, said political parties were important in affirmative action because they shaped the landscape and drove its internal agenda.

She said if political parties were not gender sensitive, the idea of affirmative action would not work.

The political party representatives present, which included those from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), all pledged to uphold the dictates of the AA Act in their future electioneering practices to ensure more women representation in decision making positions.