Adopt gender-responsive recruitment, promotion systems - Vice-President urges public service agencies

The Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has charged public service agencies to adopt gender-responsive recruitment and promotion systems, implement flexible and family-friendly workplace policies and reward excellence based on merit.

Speaking at the opening of the second annual conference for Women in Leadership in the Public Sector in Accra yesterday, she urged senior public service officials to dismantle systemic barriers that continue to limit women’s rise into leadership.

“Senior public service officers must not yield to biases and stereotypes. They must act with boldness, with clarity, and with purpose,” Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said.

She acknowledged progress made over the years but stressed that women continued to face structural, cultural and institutional obstacles that hindered their advancement into senior roles.

The conference was organised under the auspices of the Public Services Commission on the theme: “Breaking barriers, building impact, advancing women’s leadership on the resetting Ghana agenda “.

In attendance were women leaders, policymakers and public servants.

Challenges

The Vice-President identified key challenges, including limited access to top-level opportunities, unequal career progression pathways and the burden of increased domestic responsibilities.

“Addressing these challenges requires deliberate policies, structural reforms and supportive institutional practices,” she said.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said promoting women leaders was not merely a gender issue but a governance imperative that strengthened transparency, effectiveness and social cohesion.

She commended ongoing initiatives within the public sector but stressed the need for sustained commitment.

“This gathering is both a call to action and a sign of shared commitment to shaping the Ghana that is fair, forward-looking and attentive to the needs of all citizens,” the Vice-President said.

She urged institutions to scale and institutionalise successful examples of female leadership to fully harness the nation’s talent pool.

The Vice-President reiterated the government’s commitment to gender equity under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama.

She reiterated the directive by the President to public service agencies to ensure a minimum of 30 per cent female representation in leadership positions by the end of this year, rising to 50 per cent by 2030.

“This directive is a deliberate policy measure to advance the objectives of the Affirmative Action Act and institutionalise gender equity as a cornerstone of our development agenda,” she said.

Data

The Deputy Chief of Staff - Administration, Office of the President, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, cited data from the Public Services Commission in August 2025, which showed that women now occupied 26 per cent of managerial roles in the public sector - an improvement but still short of national targets.

She also said that women currently constituted 23.21 per cent of political appointees, as the government works toward the statutory targets under the Affirmative Action Gender Equity Act.

The President also recently reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to ratifying the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women this year.

The Deputy Chief of Staff advised women in public service to embrace personal leadership, practise transformational leadership, reject corruption and arrogance of power, resist stereotypes and discrimination, and engage traditional leaders and communities.

Compliance

The Chairman of the Public Services Commission, Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman, urged human resource leaders and public institutions to strictly implement government directives on female representation.

He said the government policy required at least 30 per cent female representation in appointments and, therefore, urged HR directors to ensure compliance.

Prof. Agyeman said the commission was prioritising the mainstreaming of affirmative action across the public service.

He announced that every public institution was expected to designate a gender mainstreaming officer and allocate dedicated gender-responsive budgets.