Basic Facts on Affirmative Action

 

• Introduction

 

Women in Ghana have a long history of contributions pre and post-independence with minimal entitlements in resource sharing. In addition, the state has committed to using temporary affirmative action measures as one of the means of straightening the path to gender equality by signing and ratifying all major international, continental and regional women’s rights conventions and protocols. Among them are the Commission for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 1981, the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), the Sustainable Development Goals, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality (2004) and the ECOWAS Protocol on Good Governance and Democracy (2002). Studies have shown that for countries like Ghana to succeed in overcoming poverty, enhancing the quality of life, achieving peace and stability, women have a priority role to play. The global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, maintains that fulfilling the promises of sustainability, peace and human progress, gender equality is fundamental.

Ghana has made some strides but the road to social equality has been slow and gender disparities continue to plague the system. Gender discrimination is a significant problem and gender-conscious affirmative action mechanisms are needed to correct the imbalances. Ghanaian women stand on the fringes of national affairs confronted by centuries of entrenched patriarchy, dogmatic religious dictates, old age traditional and cultural subordination and autocracy which need to be de-emphasised.

 

2.0       What is Affirmative Action?

Affirmative action is about equalising the tracks and removing the unjust barriers that obstruct the pathways to progression that only some runners are confronted with. Policies that promote inclusion, such as affirmative action, are designed to equalise the conditions of an otherwise unfair race and give everyone a fair chance to compete.

Affirmative Action is therefore:

• An active remedial mechanism or policy aimed at removing discrimination, improve the rights and socio-political progress of non-dominant groups who are historically disadvantaged.
• A desire to redress the effects of past and current discrimination that is regarded as unfair and unjust
• A deliberate temporary act to facilitate equality in representation for national cohesion and development.

 

3.0         Can Affirmative Action Promote Inclusion?

Yes, an Affirmative Action Law is needed to address the low presence of women and the marginalised in politics and in public life. Affirmative action is not new in Ghana and therefore the demands for its reintroduction to get more marginalised citizens, especially women in public life is defendable especially when related to government mandates. Ghana’s first national machinery for women, the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD) defined Affirmative Action in the 1970s as: “special measures which are taken to correct systematically and institutionally, the structural discrimination and collective disadvantages which women suffer as a group”. The African Union’s (AU) Protocol on Women’s Rights (2004) requires member states like Ghana, in Article 9 that they, “shall take specific positive action to promote participative governance, and the equal participation of women in the political life of their countries through affirmative action.”

 

The Honourable Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye recently said: “Affirmative action is an instrument of social engineering to cater for some wrong done by the society that needs to be corrected”, adding that: “This is the essence of law making; the law is an instrument of mischief correction.”

Ghana legislated an Affirmative Action Act in the middle of 1960 which allowed 10 women members to represent the regions of the country in the then legislature. The law recognised that women’s political participation is a critical component of democratic dialogue and social cohesion. However, the law was lost under the weight of the political upheavals that occurred in the intervening years in the country. Since then, the nation has made various commitments by signing to global declarations and protocols that call for increased women’s participation and representation in public life. Through these instruments, Ghana has been mandated to institute measures, specifically affirmative action mechanism as one of the means of addressing the problem of exclusion of the marginalised, especially women, otherwise the country will stretch much further the issue of parity. Indeed after fifty-nine (59) years after the Affirmative Action move of the 1960s, Ghana has failed to meet the minimum UN recommended threshold of 30 per cent women representation in either the local or the national level.   There are only 38 (13.8%) women in Parliament out of 275 members and 282 (4.6%) elected women in District assemblies out of a membership of 6061. Globally as of February 2019, Ghana is ranked 145 out of 193 countries.

While Rwanda is the most celebrated classic case, a number of other African countries have adopted good practices that have made marked improvement in women’s participation and representation with a corresponding positive impact in national development.  Studies have shown that countries that have achieved parity in women’s representation have done so by introducing deliberative mandatory Affirmative Action measures. Some countries that attained independence much later than Ghana have made significant progress in equality in representation, especially for women. By February 2019, examples include Namibia (46.2), South Africa (42.7%), Senegal (41.8%), Mozambique (39.6%), Ethiopia (38.8%), Tanzania (36.9%), Uganda (34.9%), and Zimbabwe (31.9%). All these countries have used some form of affirmative action mechanism to better the power disparities.

 

4.0      Where Does Ghana Stand on Affirmative Action?

Ghana has made attempts since 1998 starting with the Affirmative Action Policy guidelines to promulgate an Affirmative Action Law without concrete results. Since then, women’s groups and CSOs through coalition building, collective and solidarity actions have pushed for the adoption of affirmative action mechanisms and placed the prime issue of parity in women’s participation as a core demand in their work. Renewed attempts have been undertaken within the last seven years with collaboration from women’s groups with various degrees of setbacks to revive the process. Currently, Ghana has drafted an Affirmative Action Bill in response to its mandate to promulgate an Affirmative Action Law (AAL) as called in Article 4 and 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW-1981) which Ghana ratified in 1986. The national urgency needed to direct the process to see this Draft Bill passed into law is agonisingly slow.

Through the Affirmative Action law, measures can be demanded of government, public and private institutions such as political parties and private institutions, educational establishments, corporations and companies to address a history of systemic discrimination and exclusion of particular social groups.

 

5.0    Is There A Campaign on Affirmative Action?

Yes, there is an active advocacy campaign towards the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into Law in Ghana. The processes leading to the drafting of an Affirmative Action Bill in Ghana began in the year 2011. This was initiated by roundtable discussions which were held on increasing Women’s Participation in decision-making with government, civil society and other stakeholders.

The Affirmative Action Bill is a temporary measure that seeks to promote women’s participation and representation in decision making spaces. It recognises historical wrongs and makes room for corrective action to be undertaken to remedy the wrong. Ghana has since its independence in 1957, been unable to realise the adequate representation of women in all decision-making spaces: ministerial, parliamentary, local governance, public and private sectors. Women’s participation has continuously dwindled at a woeful representation of 5 to 18%. It therefore behoves on the country to put in place measures that would correct the years of marginalisation, patriarchy and cultural and religious inhibitions to women’s active participation and representation. The Affirmative Action Bill derives its basis from International Conventions and Constitutional provisions such as Article 17(4) (a) of the 1992 Constitution, which allows Parliament to enact legislation relating to gender equality to address “… social, economic or educational imbalance in the Ghanaian society”.

Following from the discussions held in May 2011, a Nationwide Public Consultation was launched in October 2011. These consultations led to the Review of the 1998 Affirmative Action Policy Guidelines, the formation of a 21-member National Technical /working Committee and a comprehensive programme to kick-start national and regional consultations. In May 2012, the sector ministry, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) have taken steps to draft an Affirmative Action Bill in Ghana. These steps include:

• Nationwide consultations were held in all ten (10) regions of the country: to increase awareness, educate and gather the support of the public for measures to address gender discrimination and inequalities in the economic and social spheres and to collate inputs from the general public, opinion leaders and policy makers for an Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Law (AAL).
• After the collation of inputs from the nationwide consultations, a team of consultants was put together to give instructions for the drafting of the Affirmative Action Bill which were submitted to the Attorney General’s Department.
• Following from the drafting of the Bill, a number of consultations were held to review the Bill, after which the final draft Bill received Cabinet approval in 2016. Unfortunately, the Bill was not tabled in Parliament and as such, did not reach the Consideration Stage before the End of the 6^th Parliament of the Fourth Republic. Therefore, the Bill had to be reviewed and re-submitted for the approval of the current Cabinet in January 2017.

Since January 2017, several engagements have been undertaken to ensure the submission of the Bill to Parliament once again. These include:  

• National Engagements to review the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Bill
• Engagements with about sixty (60) Members of Parliament to make inputs into the finalization of the Bill.
• The review by the Technical Committee of new inputs collected and draft proposed instructions for submission to the Attorney General’s Department for incorporation into the Bill.

In the year 2018, the engagements continued, towards the finalisation of the Draft Affirmative Action Bill:

• Committee meetings of the Technical Committee to review and collate inputs from stakeholders
• Engagement between the Technical Committee and Cabinet to discuss the Bill
• Review meeting of the Technical Committee to incorporate comments from Cabinet.
• Inputs from the various meetings were collated and submitted to the Attorney General’s Department for incorporation into the Bill.
• The Attorney General’s Department finalised and resubmitted the Bill to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection with comments for review and acceptance.

In 2019, the Affirmative Action Technical Working Committee reviewed the comments on the Bill, submitted by the Attorney General’ s Department and has submitted to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) for further submission to the Attorney General’s Department. Following from the submission, the Attorney General’s Department has again submitted some comments for clarification from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. A small team has therefore been set up by the Ministry to review and respond to the comments.

In all these processes, civil society organisations including ABANTU for Development, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana, ActionAid, Women in Law and Development (WiLDAF), Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and several others have been at the forefront of advocacy campaigns, canvassing for support for the passage of the Bill. These organisations have engaged with citizens across the country, engaged with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Cabinet, Parliament, Political Parties, the media and other stakeholders for the promotion of the advocacy around the Bill.

The Affirmative Action Bill, when passed into Law, will promote democracy, inclusion and good governance at all levels of governance and decision-making in Ghana, as well as address other social and economic imbalances. The Bill will require government to ensure equitable gender representation at all levels. It will apply to the public service, ministerial positions, independent constitutional bodies, boards of state institutions, security services and political parties.

The Affirmative Action Bill presents itself as the most definite way of ensuring women’s adequate representation in Ghana’s decision-making spaces. The strategy has worked in various African countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal, to mention but a few. There is therefore the urgency for Ghana to pass the Affirmative Action Law in order to remedy women’s low participation in political, social and economic lives.

ABANTU and its coalition and network members are building on its existing structures and initiatives to work with beneficiaries, stakeholders and partners to institutionalise and coordinate the coalition building efforts on the Affirmative Bill. The effort has been developed as a mix of several interconnected advocacy efforts to create awareness, sensitise, educate and provide compelling information to Ghanaians on the need to give their support to the processes towards the impending passage of an Affirmative Action Law (AAL) for Ghana.  Many Ghanaians have heard about Affirmative Action but a greater number need to be convinced about its relevance as a social justice vehicle towards fairness and equality, and not intended for preferential treatment. Women and youth groups are also being specifically targeted both as beneficiaries and active participants of the project.  The whole process is being tracked and monitored to establish the extent to which progress is being made towards the passage of the Bill into Law.

 

6.0      How Can One Join the Campaign?

To join the Campaign, you can do the following:

• Go on Social Media using the #AffirmativeActionNow and spread the message.
• Send comments and ideas on Affirmative Action through both the electronic and print media
• Contact or write to your parliamentarian on the need for the passage of an Affirmative Action Law
• Make Affirmative Action a priority Issue for engagement in your social and religious groups.

 

For Further Information Contact:

ABANTU for Development

P.O. Box K.D 4,

Kanda – Accra.

 

Produced by ABANTU for Development

With Support from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF)

 

CONTACT DETAILS:

ABANTU for Development

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Accra, Ghana

Tel: +233 0302-816 113

Fax: +233 0302-816 114

E-mail: abanturowa@yahoo.com

Website: www.abantu-rowa.com

 

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