Monday, 9th March, 2026
Hon Felicia Adjei
Kintampo South
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to make a Statement on a vital issue at the heart of our democracy.
Around the world, many successful democracies use proportional representation as a fairer way to convert votes into seats and various stakeholders have been examining gender equity and seeking ways to build a better, more inclusive system in which every citizen’s voice is valued. Under this system, if a political party wins 30 per cent of the national votes, it receives about 30 per cent of the seats in Parliament. This ensures that every vote counts and that even smaller parties and minority groups are represented. Countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Rwanda and Senegal have adopted Proportional Representation to strengthen democracy and inclusion.
Mr Speaker, Proportional Representation fosters gender inclusion. In Rwanda, for instance, the proportional system has allowed women to hold over 60 per cent of parliamentary seats, making it one of the most genderbalanced legislatures in the world. Ghana currently uses the first-past-the-post system, where the candidates with the most votes in their constituencies win. While simple, it often leaves many votes uncounted and reduces opportunities for women and minority groups. As a result, our Parliament does not fully reflect the diversity of our population.
Mr Speaker, the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act 2024 (Act 1121) was a bold step towards encouraging women’s participation. However, laws alone cannot achieve equity if the electoral system does not support inclusion. One proven approach is the use of gender-balance, or the “Zebra” list, which requires parties to alternate between the male and female candidates when seats are allocated. This guarantees fairness by design, not by chance.
Mr Speaker, Ghana could adopt a hybrid model such as those in Germany and New Zealand, where some Members are elected from constituencies and others from parties, less based on the population of the national vote. This preserves a local representation while enhancing fairness and inclusivity.
Mr Speaker, gender equity is both justice and good governance. The Affirmative Action Act has laid a strong foundation. Proportional representation with gender-balanced lists could build upon it to create a truly inclusive and representative Parliament. Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Jean-Marie Formadi
Biakoye
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. I commend the maker of this Statement highly for this Statement concerning gender and representation.
Mr Speaker, when we look at the global percentage of gender representation in Parliament, we have just about 26.1 per cent. When it comes to Ghana, we have about 14 per cent of women representation in Parliament, which is not encouraging. So, I think it is high time our political parties make efforts not to just say they need women representation in Parliament, but ensure some political and party enforcement of the representation of women.
We would be very happy as women if our seats are protected by political parties making an effort to ensure that, at least for the first or second term in Parliament, nobody should contest the seat. That would be a form of encouragement, and it would be guided by maybe our activities in Parliament. By so doing, more women would be encouraged to work harder in Parliament because they know that if they do not perform well, maybe they will not be given that opportunity of nobody contesting them. I think that would encourage a lot of women to be more courageous in contesting the elections.
Mr Speaker, this is a time for women to take up leadership positions. The time is right for us to rise to the occasion to take political positions, not only in Parliament, but in all other aspects of leadership. Yes, in Ghana, we have a woman as a Vice President, which is a step in the right direction. And we know that many other positions are there, but it is the percentage that is lacking. So, I will use this medium to encourage our women to try to take up positions. We should not just be relaxed, feel reluctant or intimidated.
Most women feel intimidated to hold this position because men actually intimidate us sometimes. It is true; the men intimidate us sometimes. We are pleading with them to give us the space to operate and by so doing, a lot of people will be encouraged. Mr Speaker, I will use myself as an example. Coming into politics was not an easy thing because of the kind of harsh words that men use against women in politics, especially, which is something that will not motivate someone to even try to contest. So, yes, it goes without saying that politics is a dirty game, but I do not think we need dirty people to do politics. So, we need people who can do the work, not dirty people, no. I hate to hear that politics is a dirty game. It should not be a dirty game.
As I said earlier, we need clean and neat people to do the work. So, the words that they use against us as women because we want to do politics, we are pleading, should not be because of politics. Someone used some words that I would not like to repeat here right now. So, we are pleading. Let us do the right things, support ourselves as women. We should hold each other’s hands and rise to the position that we are expected to be.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Jerry Ahmed Shaib
Weija-Gbawe
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity and let me commend highly, the maker of this Statement.
Mr Speaker, coincidentally, yesterday was also International Women’s Day. So, I would also take this opportunity to wish every woman who is in this hallowed Chamber, who is whether a legal practitioner, a media practitioner, a politician, a mother, a queen mother, a sister, or a wife, a Happy International Women’s Day.
Mr Speaker, I have largely been nurtured and supported by my grandmother, who is no more. I have always found myself to understand that women have always been extremely supportive and hardworking. Anytime they intend to do something, they have always had the capacity to undertake every step they commit to. Unless or until they are not willing to do so. But when we are talking about issues of gender, there is also the need for them to understand that times have changed. There is progress in this world. The way and manner we used to think about things is not the same. We have gone to Beijing and other places with a lot of understanding that what the man can do, the woman can do better. In fact, sometimes they say the best. So, there should always be the platform for equality. There should also be the platform for equity.
In every step, women are largely ahead in how they even manage their homes. Mr Speaker, when you have a wife, you are so sure that you can go home peacefully to, then you are comfortable as a man in performing other very important functions that are not just assigned to you but are your responsibilities. Including even coming to this Chamber to make laws and including contesting elections. So, Mr Speaker, the conversation should be automatic. Women should be given the opportunity, for instance, to contest because they are women. I think we are going beyond that. They need to work for it and they are working for it.
They need to compete and win, and they are competing and winning. There are women who have beaten men in competitions. There are women who, just like she rightly said, we have the Vice President who is a woman. So, we must not come to the table and act like, with all deference, women are not in the position to do better. They should be supported: they should be funded if need be and they should not be given all manner of ill names that would actually discourage them.
The Maker of the Statement is doing better. She has gone and she has come and any other woman who has the capacity to do better can also be the President of the Republic. So, all we can do is rather to encourage you, pray with you, advise you, support you, and compete because we are largely equals and there is nobody bigger in these shoes.
So, let me once again congratulate all the women, especially in Parliament. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate my very supportive and hard-working wife and my mother. Prof, my wife is hard-working; Mr Rockson will tell you. My mother has always been very supportive. We have had instances where some women have become mothers and fathers. So, when you have a woman who has become a mother and a father, you also need to support, congratulate and commend her. Some of the women in the constituencies who are Members of Parliament have also become mothers and fathers. They are taking care of a lot of young men and women. They are doing the jobs of men and women. They all need to be highly commended and congratulated.
So, I wish all of us well and I thank you very much for this opportunity, Mr Speaker.
Hon Bede Anwataazumo Ziedeng
Lawra
Thank you very much.
Mr Speaker, except that you should delete the “a” from my name. My name still remains “Ziedeng”. Let me commend my Colleague, Hon Felicia Adjei, for bringing up this matter.
Mr Speaker, the truth of the matter is that I have been an advocate of women’s empowerment and the promotion of gender equity in governance and I have been so for more than a decade, and the battle has been on. Some progress has been achieved through the Affirmative Action law, but that is still not enough because in terms of legislative participation, the Affirmative Action Act does not adequately address it and I think that we still have a huge gap, which is why even in this Chamber, we see that the women are very few. We have used other ways to address this inequality, but I think that in terms of our electoral system, the only way we can help address this problem is to adopt the proportional representation.
Mr Speaker, that is what Rwanda has done and they have been able to achieve a percentage of over 60 per cent in terms of female representation and they have done so using a combination of systems. They used the proportional representation system and under this proportional representation system, every political party is allowed to fill in its female candidates and then they are allocated the seats based on the votes that they receive. So, it is much easier for women to get included in the list of parliamentarians at the end of the general election.
For instance, in the Upper West Region, since we started this exercise in 1992, we have had the opportunity to have only one woman as a parliamentarian and it is always the men. Indeed, I am aware of a lot of women who would do well in Parliament and yet, because of the system that we are applying, first-past-the-post, they are unable to come to Parliament.
Mr Speaker, if we go outside the educational system, in the past, we had very few girls in school, and we came up with a system, we said that we should support the girl child. Today, if we go to all our educational institutions, the girls are now more than the boys because of the system that we have adopted. So, we have to change our system, which will be fairer. This electoral system that we have is not fair to women and so we have to change it and I think that should be by a legislation. If we do so, then we can accommodate more women in our legislative practice.
Mr Speaker, I think that the time is now and I will support the call by my Colleague, the Member of Parliament for Kintampo South, so that we can reform our electoral system. Currently, it is the electoral system that is the obstacle to the participation of women in the legislative arm of government. Mr Speaker, with these few remarks, I want to support the call for the reforms and thank my Colleague for bringing up the matter.
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