Ghana needs more Female Representatives in Parliament
On January 21, 2021, it was revealed by Focus FM’s Jeff Aboagye on the Teknokrat show that there has been a consistent growth in the number of women in Parliament since the beginning of the 4th Republic in 1992.
However, in 2008, the percentage of women representatives in parliament dropped from 11% to 9%.
Mr. Aboagye also disclosed that on January 7, 2021, the inauguration of members of parliament in Ghana had 40 women representing 14.5% of the total population of MPs. This leaves the men at 85.5%, which shows that men are still dominating.
Going back to history, in 2013, there were 30 females in parliament, which increased to 37 in 2017, then to 40 in 2021. This, he said, shows an improvement in the representation of women in parliament, but it is comparatively low.
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Mr. Aboagye also revealed how the political parties, especially the ruling government, New Patriotic Party (NPP), have pushed more women into parliament than the opposition party, National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“In 2013, there were 30 female MPs in parliament, and out of this, NDC had 14 female MPs and NPP had 16. The total number of female MPs increased in 2017 to 37 and out of this, NDC had 13. And this means, the NDC lost one female MP and the NPP increased from 16 to 24, which means they added 8 more women.”
“So looking keenly at the analysis you will realize that since 2013 there has been a total of 107 female MPs. NDC has 47 and the NPP has 60. Therefore, the conclusion is clear that the NPP has pushed more women than the NDC,” he added.
In his closing remarks, he suggested that the political parties’ world banks allocate some seats for women, and also reduce the filing fees for women who aspire to be members of parliament. Also, they should protect competent female MPs in the internal party primaries.
This, he believes, will encourage and boost the morale of women to aspire to become members of parliament in Ghana.
