Magdalene Kannae
ABANTU for Development, a gender and policy advocacy organization, has called for an increase in women representation and participation in local governance, especially at the assembly level.
ABANTU said women are playing critical roles in national development and must be afforded equal opportunities to ensure accountability, sustainability and common ownership to development initiatives.
At a press conference held at the International Press Centre in Accra, Mrs. Magdalene Kannae, a member of the Institute of Local Government Studies, said that women representation and participation in governance at the local level is still low due to a number of reasons.
“Financial constraints, socio-cultural perception about women’s roles in the society, making the public area to be seen as unstable for women; religious hindrances, intimidation, harassment and violence perpetrated against women by male competitors; illiteracy or perceived social handicaps, time and mobility constraints form part of the many challenges women face in their desire to participate in local governance,” she said.
She added that socialization processes do not encourage women to venture into leadership which also contributes to the low percentage of women in leadership positions at the local level.
She recommended that in order to increase women participation and representation in local governance, women achievers should be given platforms to share life stories of practices and challenges to help other women and activists to learn from such experiences.
Male champions, she said, should also support women who express interest in occupying any leadership position, especially at the assembly level in order to boost their visibility and confidence in the development discourse of their assemblies.
“Women’s involvement in local development discourse is an issue of right and justice. Ghana belongs to females and males and all must get involved,” she added.
As the local assembly elections approach in September, Mrs. Kannae urged women to get involved in community development issues to show their interest at the grass-roots level and demonstrate commitment, hard work and honesty in discharging their duties.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio