Source: Commonwealth Secretariat
Ghana colloquium recommends African governments should increase women’s representation in cabinet, parliament and local government to a minimum of 30 per cent.

A high-level meeting to discuss women’s representation in decision-making concluded Thursday in Accra, Ghana, with participants committing themselves to supporting women’s participation and leadership in politics.

The Commonwealth Africa Regional Colloquium: Women Leaders as Agents of Change from 27 to 29 March 2012 was jointly organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Gender Section and the Government of Ghana.

Delegates, including ministers, senior officials, policy-makers and regional development organisations from 16 Commonwealth Africa member states explored how to improve women’s representation in politics.

They recommended, among others, that governments should increase women’s representation in cabinet, parliament and local government to a minimum of 30 per cent, ensure adequate maternity and paternity leave, strengthen gender equality monitoring mechanisms and secure development plans that reflect the needs of men and women.

Discussions also focused around the importance of timely capacity-building to enable women to take up positions of authority in political life and covered the need for relevant reform in policy and legislation as well as for education of the girl child.

Delegates emphasised the role academics, politicians and entrepreneurs could play in working together towards empowering women.

In addition, there were calls for men and other stakeholders such as the media and cultural and religious leaders to advocate for change, while education for sensitising male members of parliament was highlighted.

In her opening remarks, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba questioned the low level of representation of women in leadership in Africa, asking what overt and covert barriers there were and what Africans should do to catch up with the world in this regard.

“Some of those challenges must certainly include limited access to financial resources, exclusion from networks, chauvinism and roles stereotyping, violence and corruption, and, generally political party processes and practices that undervalue women’s skills and competencies,” she said.

“Africa stands at the threshold of economic explosion. As the only continent witnessing two-digit growth and with vast untapped resources and potential, it is increasingly the toast of astute investors. The holding of this Colloquium is both timely and opportune.”

The keynote address was delivered by Ghana Minister for Women and Children's Affairs Juliana Jocelyn Azumah-Mensah on behalf of Ghana’s Vice-President John Dramani Mahama. She told delegates: “If our societies and indeed humanity has recognised, belatedly, that women contribute a lot to the development and growth of our communities, then it behoves on us all, especially men who occupy positions where economic decisions are taken to make deliberate and conscious efforts to ensure that we invest in women and girls, so that we can accelerate the social, economic and political progress in our societies.”

In a statement to the Colloquium, Litha Musyimi-Ogana, Director of Women, Gender and Development Directorate, African Union Commission said: “Women have been and continue to be day to day agents of change at the family, community and national levels, despite the many challenges they face. Even in the worst form of crises, women have continued to provide alternative leadership. It is in this special capacity to harness, nurture, follow while leading that this agency derives legitimacy.”

The Commonwealth Africa Regional Colloquium: Women Leaders as Agents of Change is the second in a series of pan-Commonwealth colloquiums on women in leadership. The first took place in June 2011 in Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean, and a third is scheduled for the Pacific region later this year.

 

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