Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

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Best Experiences for an Action Research Process 52 Chapter 9. Women and Good Governance in Society and Community Radio in Ghana By Ruby N. Amable (32) The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana recognizes the equality of all persons and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex and education, among many others. Thus women in Ghana are recognized under the law as having equal rights as men. It is no surprise then that the current Chief Justice is a woman while the Commissioner of the Immigration Service, the Government Statistician and the Deputy Commissioner of Police are women. Since the early 1990s and thereafter, laws and policies have been put in place to enhance the status of the Ghanaian woman. For example, the Criminal Code Amendment Act was amended to include provisions to protect women from harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation and widowhood rites. The Women and Juvenile Unit, which was recently renamed Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit, was also established under the Ghana Police Service. Other policy frameworks in place include Girl Child Education and the Science, Mathematics and Technology clinics for girls during the long school vacations. More recently, the Domestic Violence Act of 2007 was passed as the result of close to six years of intense and sustained advocacy by a coalition of women’s and other rights-based groups. Apart from the national guarantees, Ghana is also a signatory to various international conven-
53 Best Experiences for an Action Research Process tions and protocols that recognize the rights of women. The main one is CEDAW (Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women). Despite the well-intentioned laws and other efforts, research at the national, regional and micro-level indicate that broad-based participation of women in community development and governance is still minimal, especially in comparison with their numbers. According to the Ghana Living Standards Survey of 2000, 44.1 per cent of women as opposed to 21.1 per cent of men have no formal education. At the higher level, the gap is even larger, with only 2.7 per cent women as compared to 15.8 per cent of men having the higher levels of education needed for employment in the formal sector. Factors such as poverty, early marriage and teenage pregnancy have also contributed to an elevated school drop-out rate among girls and prevented a large number of females from attaining a higher education. Religion, cultural norms and the lack of economic power, together with the low level of female education, have contributed to the low status of women in Ghanaian society. Women in decision making Despite the statistics, women have played, and continue to play, pivotal roles in the political, social and economic life of Ghana. During the struggle for self-determination, women, including those who were uneducated in formal terms, struggled and fought alongside their male counterparts in the fight against colonial rule. One, Yaa Asantewaa, has become a revered figure for taking up leadership in battle where men would not dare. After the attainment of independence in 1957, the government of the late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah introduced an affirmative action program for women. Among other features, this enabled the inclusion of women in the national legislature in recognition of the frontline role women played in the struggle toward independence. However, in contemporary Ghana, 50 years after independence, the ratio of women to men at the national and local government levels and in the public and corporate sectors does not reflect that of a nation where over 51 per cent of the population is comprised of women.
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Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

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