MPs do not agree on special seats reserved for women in Parliament

General News on Friday, June 14, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-06-14

Members of Parliament expressed differing views on whether special seats should be reserved for women in Parliament.

Some legislators felt that it was necessary to create space for women to enter Parliament without too much rush to bridge the huge gap between men and women.

But others have argued that men and women should be encouraged on the same footing.

Debate

The Kumbungu National Democratic Congress (NDP) MP set the tone for last Wednesday's debate when he read a statement on the under-representation of women in parliament.

He urged leaders of Ghana's two main political parties to address the problem of insufficient representation of women in parliament.

"The representation of women in our Parliament is a problem that this House has inherited. This is a problem for Parliament, a problem for all political parties and a national problem that should not be neglected. "

"If we do not act, we risk waking up one day with a parliament composed exclusively of men. And it's very scary. Others took action and succeeded, "he said.

Citing the Rwandan Parliament as a case study, Mubarak said that as the first country in the world with a female majority, there were 61.3% of deputies in the lower house and 38, 5% in the Senate of Rwanda.

Best examples

Mr Mubarak stressed the need for the country to adopt the measures taken by Rwanda as well as by the Latin American countries where they had legalized the quota of women by bad.

"These countries use gender-based quota systems that work perfectly," he said.

Mr. Mubarak called on the Speaker of Parliament not only to research the reasons why our female counterparts did not propose public office, but also to send teams of parliamentarians such as the young parliamentarian's caucus and the women's caucus, and even leading parliaments in countries such as: Norway, which has been implementing the gender quota system since 1983, in Brazil, Bolivia, Rwanda, South Korea, Sweden in Denmark and even in the United Kingdom to find out about the bad quota system used for the selection of women parliamentarians and how Parliament could help political parties to implement this policy.

"I think that an increase in the number of women parliamentarians would draw more attention to issues concerning women and children. As a proud father of two daughters, Mr President, I hope that the generation of tomorrow will look into this Parliament and say yes, these people have risen. for the empowerment of women and went beyond words and made things happen, "he said.

disagreements

In his contribution, NDC deputy for north Tongu, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, called for the reservation of safe seats for women to address the disparity.

"Let's work on that and put quotas in this bill for women. Then we will have practical demonstrations; we will show commitment to the constitution and the issue of gender balance. "

"The pace at which we go, we run down … We are supposed to be representatives of the people. Do we really represent the people? Do we reflect people? The majority of our population are women, 51% are women. Are we thinking about that? So, Mr President, we should ask political parties to take active steps to include women, reserve seats in our women's strongholds, so that women can participate actively in the legislative process, "she said. he declares.

But the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Okaikoi Central, Patrick Yaw Boamah, disagreed with this position and said that equal opportunity should be created for women and not discrimination against women. their advantage.

"We had women who challenged men and beat them squarely in the elections. It's about your conviction and your interest in political affairs. I share the point of view of my colleagues, but in this country you have to be competitive in all respects, "he said.

More encouragement

Mr Boamah said that women should be encouraged to actively participate in politics rather than stressing the need to give them quotas.

"There are different forms of support for women for whom they aspire for positions and I believe that just asking for a basement, I do not think that even women will accept it, because they believe that it is a good thing. they have reached adulthood and can fight and compete. at each election. "

"It is not only in Parliament that you would like to see women progress politically. There are other posts of equal importance that they have occupied. We must encourage them. We just do not want to leave them feeling that you're coming into this area because we feel you're inferior. They are not. Some are much better than us men, "he said.

Parliament's first vice-president, Joseph Osei-Owusu, said the 1992 Constitution amendment would be a starting point for more women to sit in Parliament.