Always push for leadership positions in local governance – women told

Ghanaian women have been encouraged to be assertive and put themselves forward for leadership roles in the local governance structure to help address challenges confronting their growth and development.

Dr Daniel Appiah, Lecturer, Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, University of Ghana noted that the move would strengthen efforts towards attaining inclusive national development, gender parity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr Appiah gave the advice when he spoke to some Assembly women in the Upper East Region at a capacity building training programme organised at Bolgatanga by the National Association of Local Authorities (NALAG).

The Lecturer bemoaned the low representation of women particularly in local governance, saying it was worrying and a threat to achieving key development needs and the SDGs especially goal five, which puts emphasis on achieving gender equality by 2030.

Out of the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) appointed to manage the various Assemblies across the country, only 39 representing 15 percent are females.

Similarly, only 246 females representing four per cent out of 6,279 had been elected as Assembly Members while out of the 2,833 appointed Assembly Members, only 591 representing 21 per cent are females.

Dr Appiah noted that the situation was worse on the position of Presiding Member with statistics from the previous Assembly indicating that only four females representing two per cent were elected as Presiding Members.

Dr Appiah explained that women had unique development needs that needed to be addressed and added that the low representation of women in the local governance structure was inimical to their growth and development.

He therefore encouraged them to be bold and put themselves up for elections and lobby for appointments into the governance system.

“For instance, a man cannot better know the challenges in breastfeeding a baby but when there is a woman as part of decision-making process regarding exclusive breastfeeding, accurate policies would be made to encourage women to practice breastfeeding,” he added.

Dr Appiah noted that statistics had proven that women were better managers of the economy especially in times of crisis and called for societal norms impeding women from taking up leadership roles to be addressed.

He said, “to add to that, when countries were ranked based on their better management of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the top seven countries were being governed by either women Presidents or women Prime Ministers.”

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, the National President, NALAG, noted that despite women forming more than half of the population of the country, gender norms and discrimination had over the years discouraged and impeded their participation in local governance.

He underscored the need for stakeholders including MMDAs to support to build the capacity of women and create enabling environment for women to improve their performance at the electoral area levels as foundational step to local governance participation.

Mr Joseph Owusu, the Head of Programmes, NALAG, said the training formed part of a nationwide move to build the capacity of Assembly women across the country to maintain their positions and encourage other women to stand for elections at the local government level, especially in 2023 District and Local Government elections.