Institute programmes to attract more women into politics — Australian High Commissioner

The Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Andrew Barnes, has stressed the need for political parties to institute programmes which will attract more women to participate in politics.

“There is a need for political parties to uplift the level of representation of women in Parliament from 13 per cent and also take steps to help female candidates gain pre-selection in safe and winnable seats, a classic case in Africa is Rwanda where they have 50 per cent of women each in both the ministry and Parliament,” he said.

According to Mr Barnes, it was necessary for political parties to set quotas and targets that were meaningful and achievable, adding that “it cannot be done by just talking, we need to take concrete steps, if we keep talking it would never happen.”

Mr Barnes was speaking at a dialogue forum to mark the International Women’s Day Dialogue held in Accra last Tuesday.

It was organised by the Australian High Commission in partnership with Developers in Vogue, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

The celebration brought together women from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics working fields to share their ideas and experiences to help close the gap for women in technology.

Closing the gap

Speaking on the topic, “Closing the Gap for Women in Tech”, Mr Barnes commended Developers in Vogue for putting in place training and mentorship programmes that equip women.

“These impressive women here today are living proof that it is not possible to work in these fields as a woman, but to excel,” he said.

Mr Barnes mentioned that, the Australian Government was strongly committed to promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls both domestically in Australia and in their international development assistance.

“One of the ways the ministry I work for, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is working to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in our workplace, is through its Women in Leadership Strategy,”

He called on Ghanaian businesses to be inspired by the work of Developers in Vogue, to hire more women into roles traditionally taken by men.

“Studies show over and over again that gender balance in the work place improves productivity and drives creativity,” he added.

Gender equality

On her part, the Director for the Department of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Comfort Asare, said the ministry was going to review and tighten up the National Gender Policy (NGP) which was developed in 2015 in the next quarter.

The NGP, she said, sought to articulate issues from gender perspectives, ensuring that women, men, girls and boys, as well as the vulnerable, the marginalised and persons living with disability participate and have a voice and a role in decision making in governance processes.

“We saw that there was a lot of lapses in the policy, it doesn’t talk into details of women in technology so we are going to review the policy to make sure we capture all the important things that we need to do as a ministry to lead and guide our drive for gender equality,” she said