BLOG: IEA Builds Capacity of Women in Decision-Making

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has organised a three-day workshop to design strategies to help increase the number of women in decision-making positions in the country.

The workshop, which was in collaboration with INSPIRED Ghana, an international institution aimed at reforming democratic governance in five African countries including Ghana, was attended by female parliamentarians, civil society organisations (CSOs), the academia, political parties and government agencies.

At the workshop, the Convenor of Abantu for Development, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, who led the discussions, said women understood issues that were of concern to them better and therefore they should be given the opportunity to make decisions for themselves.

According to her, there was the need to make concious efforts to increase the number of women in decision-making positions if the country was to develop holistically.

The Executive Director of IEA, Mrs Jean Mensa, said the workshop was aimed at ensuring that the number of women in decision-making positions in the country was increased appreciably over the years.

She said the work of the IEA and other civil society organisations in promoting women's participation in politics over the years had paid off as the number of women in the current parliament had increased from 19 in the last elections to 30.

According to her, as the country gears up for the district assembly elections next year, it was the aspiration of the IEA to ensure that more women found their way into the local assembly.

The Programme Analyst of the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), a member of INSPIRED, Mr Sebastian Bloching, said INSPIRED works in five African countries to help reform women's participation in decision-making.

He said EPD, which is a member of INSPIRED, aimed to work at reforming decision-making policies in the country.

Discussing “Women's participation in politics and decision-making,” participants were of the view that representation of women made them visible so that people would take their issues seriously.

According to them, when only men are left to control the affairs of the state, it would mean the neglect of over 50 per cent of the country's population who were women.

They said the consequence of women not participating in politics would mean their concerns would not be addressed adequately and captured for national development.

They added that it was important that women were well represented in all spheres to ensure that all their concerns were adequately documented.

To help remedy the situation of low participation of women in politics, participants were of the view that choosing leaders should transcend beyond party lines but rather based on competence of people.

They said there was the need for women to rise up to their capabilities and put themselves up for appointment in decision-making positions.

They called on more women to educate themselves to higher levels so that they could work in positions considered to be challenging.

The participants also called on more men to be involved in issues pertaining to women so that they could appreciate their problems and play their respective roles.