3NEWS
Ghanaian women in active politic; a shift from an old narrative
The empowerment of women over the years seem to take a brighter turn as women have shown themselves worthy to be involved in politics.
Currently in Ghana, of the 275 parliamentary seats, only 34 are occupied by women. Again there are only 13 substantive female Ministers of State and 10 female deputy Ministers out of the over 120 ministers in Ghana. This may seem little but better than previous years where women were nowhere in politics.
Ghana has seen a surge in women’s participation in elections. In the 2016 election, former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings became the first Ghanaian woman to have run for the presidency as a flagbearer, pushing women to take a step in politics and do away with the cliché thought that women are just meant for the home.
Women have also been seen to go beyond the traditional standards of being home caretakers to growing their capacity through obtaining higher forms of education and this has become more or less an eye-opener for them to participate in decision-making and leadership in the country.
Recently as elections are nearing, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang stands to be the first female running mate for a major political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), aspiring to be the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana and this has in many ways shown great evidence that women in Ghana are growing beyond being just women to being ‘power bearers’.
Some other women in Ghanaian politics whose strides inspire many include;
Akua Donkor
Founder and leader of Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) and presidential aspirant for the 2020 elections. She is among the first women to register a political party and attempt to run for president in Ghana. Even though she has been unsuccessful on two different occasions to have her face on the presidential ballot paper, she has finally made it and poised for December 7 when Ghanaians go to the polls to choose a leader.
Samira Bawumia
Samira Bawumia, has become more than just a second lady as her influence in the political space keeps growing by the day. Togther with her husband, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the couple has endeared themselves to many.
Sheila Bartels
Sheila Bartels is the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Ablekuma North constituency for the 2020 elections. Should she win, she becomes one of the young new faces in parliament and that would add to the number of women in Parliament or to have become MPs as she would be succeeding a man on that seat.
Paulina Patience Abayage
Affectionately called the lioness, Paulina Patience Abayage, is a former Ambassador to Italy, the incumbent Upper East Regional Minister and NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Navrongo Central Constituency in the Upper East Region. Having floored the Aviation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, in the party’s primary elections, she at it again hoping to come up tall in the December 7 elections to represent the people of Navrongo in Parliament.
These women among others have are changing the narrative about women and in a broader sense are changing the face of politics in Ghana.
By Alexandrina Yeboah|3news.com|Ghana
The author is a student of Ghana Institute of Journalism and an intern at Media General.
The post Ghanaian women in active politic; a shift from an old narrative appeared first on 3NEWS.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS