Women Rights Advocates in Ghana welcome Parliament’s passage of Affirmative Action Bill into law

By Rebecca Ekpe

Ghana’s Parliament has passed the Affirmative Action, Gender Equity Bill 2024. Women’s rights groups are praising the hard work of the proponents who worked tirelessly for the Passage of the Bill.

Minister for Gender and Social protection, Dakoa Newman in June 2024 relayed the Bill last in Parliament.

The purpose of the Bill is to effectively address social, cultural, economic and political gender imbalances in the country, stemming from historical discrimination against women and persistent patriarchal socio-cultural systems and norms.

The Bill also seeks to ensure gender equity in both the public and private sector.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin noted in Parliament on July 30,2024 that “Honourable members the ‘ayes’ have it. The Affirmative Action Gender Equality Bill 2024 now the Affirmative Action Gender Equity Act duly read the third time and passed.”

Women’s Rights Advocates in Ghana had been pulling all strings to ensure that the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Bill is passed before the current Parliament’s tenure expires as Ghanaians will head to the ballot box December 7, 2024 to elect a President and 275 members of Parliament.

Meanwhile, some Lawmakers are skeptical of the attainment of the goals. They believe gender parity targets in the Bill will be difficult to achieve considering historical data and statistics.

Haruna Iddrisu, Member of Parliament for Tamale South, and a onetime Minority Member of Ghana’s Parliament has been quoted as earlier expressing his dissatisfaction with the Affirmative Action Bill. He argued that the Bill did not specifically address issues relevant to Ghana, but instead focused more on matters in other countries.

Expectations and Compliance:

Implementation of the Bill is quite a critical one. The Affirmative Action(Gender Equality) Act, 2024 will mean some amendments within institutions in Ghana. For example, within Governance and decision-making in the Public Service, government and allied institutions will be required to ensure gender parity in decision-making spaces.

In an interview, the Convenor of the Coalition for Affirmative Action Bill, Sheila Minka Premo expressed excitement at the passage of the Bill which had been in and out of Ghana Parliament, ”Am very happy and excited”, she said. She spoke of the hard work of the Affirmative Action Coalition and congratulated Ghana’s Parliament, the Speaker, and Members of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

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