The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) congratulates all women parliamentarians elected in Ghana’s 2012 elections. The 30 women who were successfully elected into Ghana’s next parliament represent the highest number of women parliamentarians in Ghana’s Fourth Republic, and an increase of 11 women parliamentarians compared with the previous parliament.
In total, 133 women contested this year’s general election, for various roles, including Vice Presidential candidates and aspiring women parliamentarians. AWDF takes this opportunity to congratulate all these women for exercising their rights to political participation and demonstrating to all Ghanaians the importance of women to Ghana’s democratic process. Theo Sowa, CEO of AWDF states, “ We should all be happy with the record number of women who contested the 2012 general elections as aspiring parliamentarians and Vice-Presidents and the increase in the number of elected women parliamentarians. It is important that our young people see women aiming for the highest decision making positions in the land. We should acknowledge the many women’s rights activists and organisations that have advocated long and hard for women to have equal access to the highest public offices. The increased numbers are a tribute to their hard work, yet the low overall percentage of women in Ghana’s parliament shows how much further we need to go. ”
It is our hope that in the next Government women will be more equitably represented in various decision-making positions including in the cabinet, ministerial positions and on various boards. Ghana has been widely referred to as one of Africa’s strongest examples of democracy. Yet the percentage of women in Ghana’s parliament continues to lag far behind percentages in many other African countries with far newer democracies, including Rwanda (56%), Mozambique (39%) and 42.3% in South Africa. AWDF looks forward to the newly elected women parliamentarians, and their male counterparts, working together to achieve true equity for the women of Ghana