International Women’s Day - EC will safeguard women’s participation in electoral process — Jean Mensa

The Electoral Commission (EC) has said it remains committed to safeguarding women's participation at every level of the electoral process from registration through to elections.

“The commission will continue to ensure that our electoral activities are inclusive, equitable and accessible to all,” the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, said in a statement to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD).

It was on the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.

Every year on March 8, IWD is celebrated to commemorate and honour women's accomplishments, raise awareness about gender disparities and discrimination, as well as promote global support for women.

Equal participation

Touching on the theme for the celebration, the statement said it stood in solidarity with the United Nations (UN) and acknowledged the digital gender gap, especially on the continent, and its adverse effect on socio-economic progress.

It said as a commission, it had introduced and would continue to implement innovative, reliable technology to enhance and promote equal participation of both men and women in elections.

The statement said women were actively involved in the 2020 general election and represented 51.7 per cent (8.8 million) of the total number of registered voters and 51.1 (6.91 million) of the total number of votes cast on Election Day.

It, therefore, pledged to safeguard women’s participation, as well as that of other vulnerable groups, at every level of the electoral process and ensure that its electoral activities were inclusive, equitable and accessible to all.