Gender: The State of the Nation in Ghana

I have just been listening to the State of the Nation address by President John Ataa Mills of Ghana and there are three things he mentioned which are of interest to me.

1. The Ministry for Women and Children will be provided with extra financial resources

2. Gender centres will be established in each district assembly

3. The Women's Manifesto of 2004 will be adapted

I am especially excited about the last point because the Women's Manifesto of Ghana was compiled by our grantees Abantu for Development and funding from AWDF enabled translation of the manifesto into four local languages, Akan, Dagbani, Ga and Ewe. This (at least in my opinion) indicated that the advocacy work carried out by women has an impact over a period of time. This impact may not be easily captured by the time a donor report is due, but the impact occurs over time.

I also believe that advocacy by women's rights activists and women's right's organisations for political parties to choose a woman vice president is what led the current goverment whilst in opposition to declare that if successful during the elections they will ensure that 40% of their cabinet are women. Again, some fantastic work was done here by another AWDF grantee, Women in Law and Development (WILDAF). In a recent visit to congratulate President Mills on winning the highest seat in the land, WILDAF presented the President with a list of 500 competent women who can occupy positions in cabinet. No excuses allowed then.

My hope is that this will set a precedent for all political parties who will take even more progressive steps to ensure gender equality in Ghana.

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Programme Officer (Fundraising & Communications)