WOMEN MUST HELP JUST SOCIETY (PAGE 13)

THE Tema Metropolitan Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Ebenezer Tetteh–Wayo, has urged women to advise the youth to desist from any act that would cause violence before, during and after the elections.
This, he said, was the surest way to ensure good governance and build a just society.
He was addressing about 1000 women drawn from the 44 parishes in the Accra Archdioces of the Catholic Church Christian Mothers Association at the close of their annual four-day conference at Tema, to asses the challenges and responsibilities of women in society.
The conference had as its theme ‘Sustaining Christian Mothers’ Association, the individual Mother’s Role ’.
Mr Ebenezer Tetteh–Wayo, who took the women through challenges of women’s participation in governance in election 2008 called on them to ensure a true, free, fair and transparent election as their role in the democratic dispensation of the nation.
He observed that although women had demonstrated considerable leadership qualities in several public and private services, they were still under-represented in leadership positions in the country.
He said in effect political decision making and leadership positions continued to remain the domain of men.
Mr Tetteh noted that it had further relegated women to the background in almost every endeavour.
He noted that the 1998 affirmative action policy provided for a 40-per cent quota of women’s representation on all government and public boards, commissions, councils, including the Cabinet and the Council of State but this had been a failure, creating a vacuum which seems to have no long term strategic framework for women.
Mr Tetteh-Wayo challenged them to prove wrong those who thought that the country lacked eminent women who could sit up to the time.
He said history had shown that women’s participation in politics started dwindling from the First Republic in 1960.
Mr Tetteh-Wayo expressed regret that with four months away for Ghanaians to go to the polls to elect a President and 230 parliamentarians, women had shown low participation in decision making again.
He said the alarming situation was that six out of 25 women in the current Parliament were not contesting in the forthcoming elections while their slots had been filled by males.
Mr Tetteh–Wayo called on women and civil society organisation and gender activists to come out with a collective programme on women to ensure that issues of gender quality and women empowerment did not remain only in books and on shelves but should become realities that would transform their lives in society.
He challenged women to act to become effective in the political arena, calling on political parties to implement a quota system as a means of having more women in politics.
Mr Tetteh-Wayo also appealed for the appointment of more women to positions in successive governments to reflect the government’s commitment to bridging the gender gap through a 50/50 policy.
On the forthcoming elections and successive ones , Mr Tetteh- Wayo said the need for peace was fundamental, critical and crucial to the continued growth and expansion of the democratic process.
He explained that the call on women to advise children to desist from any act that would cause violence would help shape the direction of the nation’s politics.
The President of the association, Mrs Augustina Arthur, appealed to members to exhibit good leadership and be responsible role models to the youth. There were goodwill messages from other associations within the Catholic Church.