Human Rights of Women
Participants at a regional forum held to collate views for the Affirmative Action Legislation (AAL) have denounced the continued exclusion of queens’ from the National House of Chiefs (NHC), describing it as unfair and discriminatory.
They said the present situation where the queens as kingmakers are denied representation in the house was completely unacceptable and that there could not be any justification for sidelining them in decisions that affected the chieftaincy institution.
The forum was organized by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs with support from the Institute for Democracy Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
It brought together religious and traditional leaders, representatives of district assemblies, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and NGOs.
The theme was “Women participation in leadership and decision making, the key to national development.”
Miss Anima Wilson, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, underlined the need to ensure that women were adequately represented at all levels of decision making.
She was particularly not happy with the number of parliamentary seats held by women, saying, this would have to change.
There are only 19 women parliamentarians in the 230 member house.
According to her, the goal of the AAL is therefore to help make sure that they are fairly represented at all levels of government and its institutions and agencies.
Mrs Sheila Mintah-Premo, Chairperson for Leadership and Advocacy for Women Africa (LAWA) and a legal practitioner, said the Affirmative Action is meant to tackle head-on the discrimination against women.
Mrs Christabelle Dadzie of ISODEC, identified lower levels of education, the aggressive political environment and limited access to leadership and managerial skills training as some of the factors that accounted for the low number of women in decision-making positions.
She, however, encouraged them to have self-confidence, remain focused and work hard to make things happen.
Queenmothers