President Akufo-Addo has designated eight women into ministerial positions in his second term of office.
The Member of Parliament for Tano North in the Ahafo Region who doubles as the former Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Freda Prempeh, have been nominated as Minister of State-Designate for Works and Housing.
Also, former Minister of State responsible for Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Safo, is currently designated as the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
Former Special Initiatives Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomsoon, designates as head of the Fisheries Ministry with Cecilia Abena Dapaah and Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey retaining their seats at the Sanitation and Water Resources and the Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Ministries respectively.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful also retained her Ministry, however, it has been given an additional responsibility as it’s been recaptured as the Communications and Digitalisation Ministry.
Two of the women have been appointed to head Regional Ministries. Justina Marigold Assan and Justina Owusu-Banahene have been nominated as Ministers for the Central and Bono Regions respectively.
Women representation in politics especially of a ministerial kind is a phenomenon which has gained the capacity and frequency to garner interest from the public domain.
Recently, the entire world stood still for some minutes as it gawked and drooled over the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States; but the real stealer of the show, even months away at being declared winners of the much contested elections was the US Vice- President, Kamala Harris.
For obvious reasons, she is the first woman, Black woman and South Asian and also the first after 172 Years since the first woman ran, significantly shattering the executive branch’s glass ceiling. The same can be said of New Zealand’s first youngest female President, Jacinda Arden who has proven to excel in her administration and the handling of the coronavirus in her country.
She became the country’s youngest Prime Minister in 150 years, and its youngest female PM, ever. Her rise was so meteoric that it earned a proper name: Jacindamania.
Africa’s soil was also blessed with its own blossom in the person of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian politician and economist who was President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. She was the first woman to be elected head of state of an African country.
While more women than ever are being elected to parliaments around the world, equality is seemingly a long way off, and current progress is far too slow. Most parliaments are still heavily male-dominated, and some have no women MPs at all. Even where women are present in greater numbers, glass ceilings often remain firmly in place.
Women running for election face numerous challenges—including addressing discrimination or cultural beliefs that limit women’s role in society, balancing private, family and political life, gaining support from political parties and securing campaign funding. They may also face violence, harassment and intimidation. Some women may even be dissuaded from running for office, leaving men in the positions of power.
Inter- Parliamentary union asserts that, change is possible if political commitment and adequate legal and policy frameworks are in place to provide a level playing field for both women and men.
“We support policies aimed at improving women’s access to party backing and candidate lists, including electoral reforms or the development of temporary special measures such as quotas. We also support initiatives aimed at changing mentalities and building an environment that is conducive to a greater role for women in parliaments”.
With President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial appointment of these astute women into such ministerial position it certainly is a redefining and watershed moment for Ghana’s politics but the question on whether the Ghanaian political scene is ready to wholeheartedly embrace such significantly growing numbers and contributions made by women pokes the mind of the discerning.It may be a tad early to be in a celebratory mood, yet still it is a sharp improvement on the history of women in politics.
Capturing the essence of the future for women in politics is the resounding words of Constance Baker Motley, who said: “Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade”.
