Becky Enyonam Ahadzi, a Women’s Rights Advocate, has called for constitutional safeguards to boost women’s political representation.
She said challenges facing women in politics stemmed from the absence of structural guarantees despite existing legal provisions.
Ms Ahadzi, who is also the Coordinator of the Affirmative Action Law Coalition, made the call at a policy dialogue in Accra.
The dialogue, organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in partnership with Oxfam, brought together legal experts, political actors, civil society organisations and youth leaders.
Ms Ahadzi said although Article 17 of the Constitution guaranteed equality, weak enforcement had not yielded equitable outcomes in women’s political participation.
She said Ghana’s electoral system contributed to the imbalance.
“The country operates the first-past-the-post system, a system that does little to support women’s representation.
“In a political landscape shaped by entrenched patriarchal norms and increased monetization of politics the chances and success of women as leaders are limited,” she said.
Ms. Ahadzi compared Ghana with countries such as Rwanda and Kenya, where proportional representation systems had increased women’s participation.
She said those countries had adopted constitutional quotas that also catered for youth and persons with disabilities as part of inclusive governance efforts.
Ms. Ahadzi said the ongoing constitutional review process provided an opportunity to implement enforceable reforms to strengthen women’s representation.
She, however, noted that the current report of the Constitution Review Committee did not include provisions for quotas for women in Parliament and local government.
Participants at the forum emphasised the need for institutional safeguards to promote a more inclusive and representative democratic system.
