Updates

It has been an eventful week. One of WiLDAFs mandates is to increase women’s participation in government. Therefore, on Tuesday and Wednesday I attended a capacity building workshop organized and facilitated by WiLDAF and ABANTU for Development; “Strengthening the Capacity of Women Parliamentary Candidates for Election 2008”. The purpose of this workshop was to educate female candidates on various elements of effective governance. This includes:

(1) Understanding democracy, and approaches to increase women’s participation in governance (2) The importance of involving women in politics; challenges and solutions
(3) The electoral process in Ghana
(4) Developing an effective campaign message
(5) The importance of the media
(6) How to increase funding
(7) Showcasing women currently in politics

Some of the key barriers to women’s participation in government were defined as:
- Lack of time – Due to traditional roles, women are often solely responsible for household work, and any work involving the children. Thus, there is a lack of time.
- Training – Female children are more often removed from school due to financial constraints within the family. Traditional gender roles place women in roles associated with the maintenance of the household and children; therefore, educating females is not viewed as a priority. Also, traditional gender roles often result in the belief that males should have better occupations and be the main providers in the household. Therefore, females will often strive for so-called lesser-than occupations that are not perceived as harmful to the male ego. Additionally, females are often removed from school if they become pregnant, whereas the males who impregnate the females are allowed to remain.
- Information – Women lack the access to information to be effective decision-makers in their constituencies. Much of this is due to the lack of training and resources allocated to women because of patriarchy.
- Money – Women lack the resources to fund effective campaigns. A key point in this argument is that male candidates are given more monetary support from their respective parties.
- Support – Lack of support from family, political parties, etc.Interestingly, a lack of resources was the main concern amongst the majority of female candidates in attendance. The women felt that things such as posters, t-shirts, etc. were crucial elements to the success of their campaign (which arguably is true in this day and age of politics). It is difficult to campaign against someone who has the resources to put up a billboard, when you barely have the resources to print t-shirts.
Some of the strategies outlined for increasing women’s participation in government are:
- Government should enforce the Affirmative Action Policy
- Traditional roles should be eliminated (beginning from the household)
- Female children must be educated
- Males must support women
- The state should provide adequate childcare for families
- Cultural practices that are detrimental to women should cease
- Political parties must provide adequate funding and other support to female candidates. Additionally, parties should select women candidates for ‘safe electoral districts’ rather than marginal ones.

Being that WiLDAF and ABANTU for Development are non-partisan organizations, all the support that could be given (in a non-partisan way) was given (e.g. posters supporting women in politics, “We Know Politics” t-shirts). The workshop was a great success and all the women expressed that the event was extremely helpful to the effectiveness of their campaigns. The evening news showcased the event, which is great news, and according to James, I got my 20 seconds of fame! That makes T.V. appearances: James – 1, Reena – 1

On another note, I started my court watch on Friday. On Friday’s Family Tribunal takes place. This generally deals with issues surrounding child maintenance. Unfortunately, two of the four panel members were not in court for unknown reasons, so most of the cases had to be adjourned to next Friday. One interesting thing I noted was that some court staff were not aware of the fact that child maintenance issues can fall under the DV Act. According to James, child maintenance may largely be the jurisdiction of the Children’s Act; therefore, this may account for some of the confusion.

Also, there is quite a large barrier to my court watch work (and possibly James’). In Takoradi most people prefer to communicate in Fante. This means that although court personnel, lawyers and the magistrate speak in English during proceedings, the victim(s)/accused speaks in Fante. This is not translated into English; therefore, there is quite a bit of significant information that is lost.

Another interesting story – I asked John about social welfare in Ghana. He said that the current government implemented a system where the very poorest members of society receive about 8 Ghana Cedis monthly. These 8 Ghana Cedis are not even given to each member of the family; it is one amount that is supposed to cover all members of the family. Also, it is important to note that Ghana’s culture is largely community based. Therefore, extended families tend to take care of one another if financial hardships arise. In effect, ‘community = social welfare’. This has largely defined the economic welfare system in Ghana, so it is quite interesting that this government implemented this new system. According to John, the new system is pointless in the context of Ghana’s community-based culture.

I’ll be heading into Accra in a few days for the Women’s presidential debate. I have to say, it is very exciting to be an Intern with an organization as well established as WiLDAF.

Just a new note: I attended court again today; however there were no DV related cases. Unfortunately, my experience reinforced the language barrier. How can I assess the type of domestic violence occurring (from the victims mouth) if I cannot understand? As you can tell, I am quite frustrated.

Until next time,
Reena