Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has expressed disappointment with the significantly low number of women in parliament. He expressed his displeasure with the small number of female lawmakers during a public forum in Tamale commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Fourth Republican Constitution.
He has since called for more inclusive governance to increase women’s participation in democracy. Despite the low percentage of women in parliament (14.5%), this is an increase from 2011, when just 8.3% of seats were held by women. With such a low score, Ghana sits at the very bottom of the Gender Inequality Index.
“The number of colleagues has surpassed the 30 percent that we all signed to achieve by 2020, and we are lagging behind, and so with 40 women MPs in the House of 275 MPs, it is a foul cry in the newly emerging democracies in the world,” he said.
“The representation of persons with disabilities is even worse. The highest of 5.5 percent in the Sixth Parliament is what this country has achieved so far… The representation of the youth in Parliament is also still very low, and one can confidently say the response to the call for participatory governance is encouraging, but the response to inclusive governance is poor.”
Rwanda has the highest rate of female political involvement in Africa, with 60% of parliament seats held by women. On a global scale, it also topped the charts because its lower houses have more women in positions of authority than any other country.
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