Hon Abena Osei-Asare
Atiwa East

Mr Speaker, thank you very much.

Mr Speaker, I rise to support my Colleague who made a Statement on International Women’s Day. I think for our nation, Ghana, we have done a lot, but there is more to be done. Thankfully, we have been able to pass the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Act, 2024 (Act 1121), and this was done under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government. It had been on the shelves for about 20 good years, but I am happy that, during the time of President AkufoAddo, we passed it and then he also assented to it. We have done a lot for our women, as I said. For now, we have the first woman Vice President. We have also had Chief Justices who are women. I think what is missing is a Minister for Finance who is a woman, and I know that, very soon, Ghana will be having a Minister for Finance who is a woman.

Mr Speaker, women do a lot. We hold the economy in the home; we do a lot for our nation. All we are asking for is recognition because we do a lot. We are not asking for handouts; we are not asking for special privileges, but we are asking that you recognise the role we play. If we look at the population of the world, women occupy more than 50 per cent, yet when it comes to issues concerning women, we have more of the men being those who, for one reason or the other, are being asked to speak on issues concerning women.

Mr Speaker, all we are asking for is not about being at par with men, but it is about recognising our role, and we complementing ourselves and making sure that, at the end of the day, this world is a better place for all of us to live. We are the peacemakers, and we can make the difference as well. In every home, it is the woman who brings about peace in every role, be it at work, be it in the home, or wherever we may find ourselves.

Mr Speaker, so, on this special day, we are asking not for any handouts, but we are asking that you recognise the important role we as women play in the home, society, at the workplace, and the world at large. So, on this note, I would like to wish all women a happy International Women’s Day, especially the hardworking women in Atiwa East Constituency. I am sure that they are all praying very hard for me that being the first woman in the role of the Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee, I will deliver and make sure I make the women proud as well as make the nation proud.

Mr Speaker, thank you very much, for this opportunity.

Hon Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings
Korle Klottey

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement made by Hon Doyoe and to commend her for such a Statement.

Also, to remind us that we did come out with a gender equity law, which was the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024 (Act 1121) last year. This is supposed to make sure that we have 50 per cent women representation in various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
But in addition to that, on the continental level, the African Union (AU) has just adopted the Convention on Combating Violence Against Women and Girls.

Mr Speaker, this provides for a comprehensive legal framework that seeks to prevent, eliminate, and effectively address all forms of violence against women and girls in Africa. It also seeks to address the persistent barriers to women’s participation in peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations.

Mr Speaker, I believe that as a show of Ghana’s commitment towards realising the equality and equity of women in our society, we must, as a matter of urgency, ratify this Convention and domesticate it in order to make sure that we are not just paying lip service to the idea of women having a fair share of leadership and decision-making in this country. And to make sure that when women do present themselves in positions of authority and to serve in public offices, they are not subjected to undue abuse, whether it is online, verbal or physical.

Mr Speaker, if we truly aim to ensure that we have a better representation in this House, it must start outside of this House, and the only way to do that is to ensure that we ratify and domesticate this Convention and to ensure that we implement the Affirmative Action Act.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Hon Haruna Iddrisu
Tamale South

Mr Speaker, let me thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement ably made by Ms Doyoe on observing the International Women’s Day in Ghana, themed, “Accelerate Action for Affirmative Action”.

In commending her, I would like to recognise that as a country, we should appreciate the strides and the progress we have made. At least, as at today, Ghana has passed an Affirmative Action legislation. That is the best legal Mr Speaker, my second observation is for us to be sincere sometimes to some of the requests or demands we make even in this Chamber. Let us work with the 1992 Constitution in this Chamber. The Constitution says there shall be elections of Members of Parliament. It does not provide for how many women can be represented or would be represented. It provides for women, if they are desirous to go through the rigorous competitive elections.

Mr Speaker, I have heard people make reference to other countries, particularly in East Africa. Yes, it is true, that they have made tremendous progress in terms of women representation, because their constitutions provide for the appointment of women into those positions unlike in Ghana. In their Parliament, a certain representation is dedicated for women and the youth. Maybe we should provide for it in Ghana's Parliament. But that will require an amendment to the 1992 Constitution to say that even after we have gone through an election—maybe today we have 275 Members of Parliament, we can decide that the President appoints additional 25 women to Parliament. But that can only be done if we review the 1992 Constitution as it is today. Without doing that, they must go through elections.

Mr Speaker, we have heard comments on whether the President has appointed enough women or not. For instance, if one takes the current representation of Parliament, maybe there are 31 National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament who are women and 10 on the other Side making it about 40 women—then, we say 50 plus one. I should recognise Mrs Abena Osei-Asare as the first woman to Chair the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). I am sure she would learn from the stride of the Rt Hon Alban Bagbin, Hon Albert KanDapaah, Hon Kwaku Agyemang-Manu and more importantly, Hon James Klutse Avedzi, the immediate past Chairman of the PAC.

But in Ghana, what we are interested in is not post-mortem, flawless examination of dead bodies—PAC waits until the mess is done and say they are correcting it, no. If they did their work well, nobody would go to a mortuary asking for a dead body. We should strengthen our internal systems so that the abuses of embezzlement, misappropriation and others are dealt with in a manner which is preventive. Every year—but I am digressing from Hon Doyoe’s Statement so let me come back to it. We have had Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, Chief Justice Georgina Wood and now we have a woman as the current Chief Justice and undoubtedly, the firstever woman Vice President of the Republic

Mr Speaker, in fact, she reminds me that a woman's strength is not measured by her ability to endure, but by her courage to rise every time she falls; a quote I just found somewhere. Strong women do not wait for doors, they open their own. Some opportunities have been given to women in Parliament. We know the effort you and the Rt Hon Speaker are making to ensure that even in the Parliamentary Service, there are more women. I know what happens when you want to increase representation.

Mr Speaker, generally, we should be particular about how we strengthen and ensure more women representation in public service. The first is education; are we providing equal educational opportunities for them? Are we providing technical or vocational education? Are we providing adequately for their health needs? So, even in this Parliament, all the women here demand gender-sensitive budget allocations. In every Budget, we should pay particular attention to how much has been allocated to advance the cause of women. Then we know we are making meaningful contributions.

Mr Speaker, I commend her. I conclude by saying that, yes, Ghana should not lose sight of the fact that we have made tremendous progress since 1993. If you look at the quality of women who have served in our national public life, including even international organisations, whether the United Nations (UN) or World Health Organisation (WHO), many women have distinguished themselves.

Mr Speaker, with this, I thank you.

Hon Rachel Amma Owusuah
Dormaa East

Mr Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this year’s International Women’s Day with the theme, “Accelerate Action”.

Let me also take the opportunity to thank our Leader, Hon Doyoe Cudjoe, for the Statement given. I therefore, take this opportunity to also thank all women, especially when it comes to caring for the sick and the aged. That reminds me of our old and first nurse named Florence Nightingale, who was also named the Lady with the Lamp. Back to the history of Shiphrah and Puah, they were also midwives.

Upon that, we have got many midwives in the country caring for our pregnant women, and when it comes to their delivery, these midwives assist them to have safe deliveries. Let me take this opportunity to remind our women who are farmers, especially at Dormaa East, that they have been doing a lot to serve the country and the community when it comes to feeding. Again, I want to express my sincere thanks to mothers who are single parents for caring for their children and making them better through education.

I, therefore, congratulate all women for assisting husbands and families when it comes to the care of our children

Let me take this opportunity as well to congratulate all women, especially the old ladies who have been taking care of the aged and the sick people. More power to our elbows as women. Congratulations! I say ayekoo to all women. Not forgetting, before a woman can do something better or good, we still need the support of the Government, our husbands and our brothers.

With their support, women can do better. Let me take this opportunity to thank the people of Dormaa East. I say bravo to everybody. Mr Speaker, thank you.

Hon Laadi Ayii Ayamba
Pusiga

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement ably made by our Leader, Hon Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe.

Let me also congratulate all the women in this House for making sure that, at least, if for nothing at all, we presented ourselves, worked hard, won the elections, and we are here competing with the men. Congratulations to us!

Mr Speaker, it is very interesting to note that it is quite difficult. It has been not less than 30 years down the line. Ever since the declaration of the Beijing Conference was made, it has been 30 years down the line, and I can give thanks and praises to Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings who led this particular activity and made sure that when she came back to Ghana, some of us were deeply involved in the 31st December Women’s Movement. That has moved us to this level, and we thank her very much. We are very grateful, and we appreciate it.

Mr Speaker, I would move on to thank our President for ensuring that we have the first female Vice President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku- Agyemang. Mr Speaker, she is competent; she is determined; she has knowledge and she is of substance. I am saying these things because many a time, these are some of the things that the men use to pull us down. I want to tell every woman in Ghana and every woman in Pusiga that we are competent, and what the men can do, the women can do it even better.

Mr Speaker, let me thank some of the past and present women who have, at least, kept the flame on.
I wish to thank and congratulate Hon Cecilia Johnson, who was the first female Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, and I will go on to thank my own Sister, Hajia Alima Mahama, who was also a Minister for Local Government and Rural Development. My late Sister, Hon Hawa Yakubu, was a very big inspiration to me. She did her best. She is from Pusiga. I would also congratulate Hajia Fati Seidu who was also a Member of Parliament. Mr Speaker, these are women who were produced by Pusiga, so I say a very big thank you to the people of Pusiga for ensuring and seeing to it that, yes, we women can, and we are actually doing our best.

Mr Speaker, I am not playing politics; I am saying it as it is, and I want any Government, whichever Government, even any government that is not yet born or has never come to being, to continue to give support to women. Each and every one of us, whether a man or a woman, was born by a woman. If you have no wife, you have a sister. If you have no sister, you have an aunt. If you have no aunt, you have a mother. None of us here can run away from a woman. Why do we think that women have that weakness? When a woman carried you in her womb for nine months, gave birth to you, took care of you, and yet, today, you can think that the woman cannot do anything better. I believe that we need to wake up from the call.

Mr Speaker, I wish to state the President’s support in ensuring that an amount of GH₵293 million has been made available for the purchase of sanitary pads to be distributed to girls in schools. Whichever girl it is that will benefit from this will say a very big thank you [Speaks in a local language] to the President. This is because there are some who have to stop school to sell before they are able to buy sanitary pads, and we all know that menstruation is not just that we want it. It is a need and so we need that support, and we are not equal, so that support is very important.
The President also made available a seed amount of GH₵5.3 million for the Women’s Bank and this is not going to those of us maybe who are at this level. It is going to help the woman at the grassroots, who needs maybe only GH₵200.00 to buy some salt and pepper or groundnut to sell. We thank you, Mr President, and we pray that all other successive Governments would emulate this and continue to support women.

Mr Speaker, let me thank you and our substantive Speaker for enabling us to pass the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024, (ACT 1121).

Mr Speaker, we are very grateful. Last but not least, let us enforce it. We should not just sit and say we have a Bill or an Act that has been passed. If the Act has been passed and we do not make good use of it, it will be of no use. We should not let it lie on the shelves while we say we have an Act. That 30 per cent, let us make sure that it works for all of us.
I thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the five minutes

Hon Dominic Bingab Aduna Nitiwul
Bimbilla

Mr Speaker, thank you very much.

Mr Speaker, first of all, let me thank the maker of the Statement, our First Deputy Majority Whip, who is a longtime Member of Parliament here, for bringing this Statement to commemorate the International Women’s Day.

Mr Speaker, it is important for us, as men, to eulogise the women. It is important for us to let the world know, especially in Ghana here, the importance of women in our lives, our society, and the role that women play. It is not for nothing that God himself or God herself, I do not want to be so manly to say himself only, but God decided that a man needed a companion—we, those who are Christians—and created a woman to become a companion. It only shows that without a woman, it is very difficult for the men alone to inhabit this world. We have to accept that fact.

Mr Speaker, it is important for us first to congratulate the women who have made it to this House, 40 of them. It is very difficult to win an election. It is very difficult to stand, campaign, and win an election and a lot of these women actually defeated men to be here. So, let us congratulate them first, and say that other women should take inspiration from what they have done, so that in the next Parliament, instead of 40, we can have 80 to 100 women.
Then that is where we are going to start from because if we keep the numbers at 40 and we do not project to at least, half of the Members here, then we are not doing ourselves any good. I do not have a problem giving my seat to a woman, but she has to beat me; she has to compete. It is as simple as that.

Mr Speaker, I want to say that let every man, whether married or unmarried, because they came from the womb of a woman and they know what has happened in their homes, and especially every husband, experience the absence of his wife for just one week, seven days, with children; then they would understand.
No, I do not want to have a situation where we have servants, so the man should just take care of that household for just two days without his wife, then they can understand the importance of women. When one child is kicking against his stomach, another is running, he has to clean the children up, dress them, and take them to school, then he would understand that without the woman, there is no home. He would understand that without the woman, he will never call something a home.

He will need a woman, and so people who say, what does a woman bring to the table? Why? What is she doing? I can tell them that the women work. If we were to apportion time by percentages, the women work 60 to 70 per cent of what happens in the house, and that is a fact. Even in most of our traditional homes, the men just provide the food and then go and relax. The women are those who look for the water. The women are those who will cook. The women are those who will clean.
The women are those who will clean up the place. They take care of virtually everything and we just enjoy ourselves. We call ourselves “alpha men”. If we go to the animal kingdom, the lion’s kingdom, and if we know the behavior of an alpha male, then we would understand what it is.
If one goes to the animal kingdom, the lion’s kingdom—If we know the behaviour of an alpha man, then we would understand what it is. So, women are more important.

Mr Speaker, we must eulogise women and celebrate them today. In fact, it was on Saturday. I do not know how many of us, Mr Speaker, bought a gift for our wives and our, well, I would say our girlfriends, those who are not married. But one must have a girlfriend before he marries. So, some people obviously have girlfriends. Some people have wives, and some people are cohabiting. I do not know why they are cohabiting, but some people are cohabiting.

But whatever the case, how many of us remembered that Saturday was women’s day, and bought something for our wives? I think we are virtually moving away from that day and celebrating Valentine’s Day; they call it Love Day. But I think that we should look at the International Women’s Day and make it a big issue for us because, Mr Speaker, Ghanaian women are very hard working. About 60 per cent of the small businesses in Ghana are owned by women. And without the women contributing to that, our economy will suffer. If the women stop working today, we are going to have a crash economy.

Because a lot of the small businesses, from Makola to Tamale Market, to Elubo Market and Zamrama Market, the women are the ones doing the petty trading. We may not see it, but I can tell you, Mr Speaker, that what they do—And if one goes to the communities or villages and sees what the women do, sometimes it is frightening. I think that the women should look at it. One goes to a community, where a man is coming from the farm with his wife who is pregnant.
She would be carrying another child at the back and holding another one, but the man is holding the cutlass and following, and she would be carrying something on her head. It is happening every day. Or the man just rides his motorbike or bicycle and goes home. The women will go home, and if they do not have a helper, they will then have to go to the stream or the borehole to fetch water. I am telling you what happens in the villages because I am from one.
She fetches water, goes to give the man. The man will bathe, and come and sit down again. Now she has to then start cooking. She finishes the cooking, cleans the pots, sweeps and mops up the place. The next day, by 5 o’clock, she is up again to do a similar thing. So, Mr Speaker, I can say—Which one?—
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member says I have forgotten what happens between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. where he would have to wake her up and be disturbing her. When she says she is tired, then she is beaten. But it is not their fault. The truth is that without the women doing what they do, the men will have difficulty. Yes, it is true that some men, including myself, still do not understand the role of women in our lives and the society and so, think that they are either disturbing or giving us headache.

But I can say that women are so important in society. But let us come to leadership. Are we giving women enough and providing them enough to give them leadership in Ghana? Are we? Today, women are doing very well in school, even beating men in schools. So, it is not the issue of women not knowing or women not being clever enough; they are as clever as the men. But are we giving them enough advantages to be able to excel in leadership? Sometimes, they say women are their own enemy. If women were to decide today that they are going to vote for only woman, I do not think we will have any man sitting in this Chamber. And that is a fact, because they are more than us.

But maybe because of lack of trust, they will vote for the man and leave that woman. The truth of the matter is that men must make conscious effort to make sure that the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024 is implemented one by one. And as Chairman of the Committee on Assurances, I am going to checkmate the President to see step by step—Yes, step by step, how he is implementing it. From the 30 per cent promise that he has given, I will checkmate it step by step.
Because it is important, Mr Speaker, that we do that. In some countries, they use proportional representation to cure the aspect of giving women—So if they have 200-Member parliament, they can make proportional representation to ensure that at least half of the people are women.
Rwanda is doing it, Uganda is doing it, and a few other places are doing it. Ghana, unfortunately, have the situation whereby everybody goes for an election. So the only thing we can use to cure is appointments. How many of the women here have been appointed? Are we meeting the quota? It may not be all Ministers, but there are other places such as boards that the President has to use to be able to do that. There are several places that the President has to use, and he has to do it. It does not matter which Government wins, but any Government that wins, that Government must ensure that women are represented and represented well.

Mr Speaker, thank you very much.

Hon Thomas Worlanyo Tsekpo
Hohoe

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. It is good to appreciate our mothers and women in Ghana, especially Ghana’s Parliament.

I say ayekoo to them. Let me say another ayekoo to the women in Hohoe Constituency—It is not about campaign, just to appreciate them. I know it has not been easy for women to compete in our society, the Ghanaian society, at the same level with men. Whatever they do, it is about competition with us, the men, and looking at what they go through daily to be in that competition and still win, every day in the morning, we have to salute our women before even taking our bath.

Remembering my mother and what she went through after our father left us, sometimes, it is something else. We just have to appreciate them. I want to appreciate three people, that is three women.

Mr Speaker, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. Growing up, there was this song that we heard in our homes by the 31st December Women’s Movement. The 31st December Women’s Movement, formed by Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, this is a song that we grew up singing in our various homes without understanding until recently. What it simply means is that the men in Ghana should stay home so that our women can also go out and learn how to “shoot”.
And this is a message that we did not understand then, but it is a message that resonated with the women. They stood up and fought for what they thought they could fight for. And today, all of us here are very proud of that woman.

Our current First Lady did a lot. In fact, she spoke to me about it, that mother-child death is something that has to be zero. That is why even in opposition, Mr Speaker, she goes around building maternity wards and hospitals, which I benefited before I became a Member of Parliament. We need to appreciate her for holding women in high esteem. Our current Vice President, this is to show the world that NDC, we do not just appreciate women by mouth. We appointed, in fact, the first female Vice President. NPP has never done that before, but we have done it

The people of Ghana have supported us to present the first female Vice President to the Republic of Ghana. It is something that we should all be appreciative of. We want to thank our women. We want to thank our mothers for sacrificing all they have for us to be who we are today. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon Patricia Appiagyei
Asokwa

Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute towards the Statement ably made by my Hon Chairperson of the Women Caucus, and I must commend her highly for initiating this Statement, because it is something that is very dear to my heart. But before I go on to make my side of the contribution, I would like to acknowledge the roles that have been played by our numerous First Ladies in this country.

Mr Speaker, in celebrating the women, I would like to commend them, for which our own Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was the first to participate in the Beijing Conference and then to undertake the pursuit of the women’s agenda. There is something that she said which I always want us to remind ourselves.
One statement that she made, and we have never forgotten about, is that, “We must be bold. Be bold.” We also commend our former heads of states’ wives, and First Ladies, those who have passed on and those who are living at this point in time. It is a role that is very difficult, and I must tell you that if we celebrate a day where we are eulogising women, we should never forget our First Ladies.

Because even given a role as a leader anywhere, we can attest to the fact, especially the men, the roles that are played by their spouses. It is something that we cannot ignore. So I take this opportunity to commend them highly, and in doing so, I also take this opportunity to commend our four main women Parliamentarians who have served for their fourth term in Parliament. It is not easy, first, to ensure that you de-sit a man and secondly, to be able to withstand all the pressures, including what we even face domestically.

Mr Speaker, a number of Statements have been made to underscore the point of the importance of women in our society, and it goes without saying that if we are celebrating a day like this, and the theme is “Accelerate Action”, it is important that we look at most of the factors that can help us accelerate the action of achieving the equality that we want. What are we talking about?

I like the contribution made by the Hon Minister for Education, Alhaji Haruna Iddrisu, emphasising the need for us to look at our Constitution and the need to review the Constitution. Much as I agree with him on this point, I would like to also emphasise that all of us here have a role to play. We are the representatives of the people out there. Luckily, we have passed a Legislative Instrument in the name of Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Act, 2024 (Act 1121). What is going to be our role to ensure that we educate, as was his bid? We need to educate people to accept the very existence of women, not as a superior being or a lesser being, but as partners with our male counterparts. So if we are in this Parliament and we have the Affirmative Action Act, it behoves on each and every individual here to do the education.

Mr Speaker, I am happy that we invited the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection here to know exactly what steps or the strategies she is adopting to ensure the implementation of the Affirmative Action Act. I think she has given a number of steps, and we have to pay particular attention to that and ensure that the implementation will go on smoothly without any hitches.

Mr Speaker, I would like to state that on the day that H. E. the President came to give the Message on the State of the Nation, he made a specific statement, which personally I felt was an excuse to exonerate himself from not being able to achieve the required percentage for the inclusion of women in the appointments he offered. He then mentioned specifically that in the case of even the local governance, he is finding it difficult to find the right women to occupy those positions, and I would like to plead with our President to make a deliberate effort for people to search each district, and he will be able to identify a capable woman who can occupy that seat, and that 30 per cent will be achieved. I do not think we have put our minds to ways of ensuring that we identify the right people to occupy the spaces. We are only giving excuses for what we feel might be a difficult task to undertake.

Mr Speaker, I feel that we have a number of barriers that we need to break. It is important that as Parliament–not only for the sake of the women, or the responsibility does not lie only with the women, but men as well–we are sure of what is happening and ensure the implementation of the Affirmative Action Act. We need to engage Members of Parliament, to understand and then carry this one through to our various constituencies and create awareness. That awareness-creation is very important, and then we can educate and let people know some of the things that we do that would not help us identify the right people, because the theme is “Accelerate Action”, and it is each and every one over here playing his or her role. And we can even identify one woman to do something. If we look at the multiplier’s effect, it would definitely help with the process.

Mr Speaker, I want to congratulate everybody who appreciates the role that women have played. Everybody who does not think that pursuing gender or women affairs is only being a feminist, but thinking through what the future of our female children, our female grandchildren, and ensuring that they become part of the leadership of the country.

Mr Speaker, I realise that you are in a rush, so what I would say is that with these few words, I am adding my voice to congratulate all women and the achievements they have made so far, especially our new female Members of Parliament who have unseated the men to be here to contribute their quota towards the achievement of gender equality.

Thank you very much.