Let’s support Affirmative Action
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) last week took an affirmative action decision that did not sit well with some members of the party.
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While the Daily Graphic finds that to be an exemplary democratic expression, there are a few thoughts that we would want to share.
With the advent of democratic governance in 1992, our country took a path that constituted what can now be described as a far departure from the political systems that we had experienced in our history.
Without any intention to belittle the short democratic dispensation that the country has experienced, it is by far the longest we have experienced, with its maturity deepening day by day.
Many schools of thought have questioned why women cannot stand on the same pedestal as men in the numbering and positioning of political and leadership roles.
The reasons that have so far been adduced focus on cultural, traditional and superstitious beliefs that defy the essence of all-inclusiveness within the democratic set-up.
Somehow conveniently, we all choose to forget that the container that carried the great politician was a woman’s womb.
But when it comes to their selection and election to political positions, the pendulum does not swing on its own but somehow swings to the position that forms a roadblock for the persona that nourished growth and development.
The Daily Graphic believes that as a nation our support for our women, even though commendable, falls short of the dictates of the Beijing Declaration.
Arguments have been adduced to the effect that women are their own enemies and that even when a woman is appointed for public endorsement, other females will not vote for her.
It is the view of the Daily Graphic that the step taken by the executives of the NPP in wanting to promote affirmative action was in the right direction.
Probably the appropriate consultations were not done, but that does not in any way negate the good intentions behind the move.
Going forward, our men must come out of their shell and give the needed support to our women.
The Daily Graphic believes that women have a greater role to play in the development of our nation at the political level and require all our support to make that dream possible.
Indeed, we think it is not good enough for some Ghanaians, including some women, to work against efforts to promote the greater involvement of women in the decision-making process.
After all, women constitute about 51 per cent of the country’s population and it can only be counter-productive to consign them to the background.
The Daily Graphic thinks that in spite of protests by a cross-section of society, the Affirmative Action of the NPP is laudable. The only challenge is that it was not well communicated.
Whatever the NPP does with its decision, we believe the state and all its actors will take steps to promote Affirmative Action in all fields of endeavour.