The region has four women members of Parliament (MPs) in the current Parliament.

The new entrants include Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who won the Cape Coast North Constituency election by beating Mr Kobby Akyeampong of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

In the Assin North Constituency, Madam Abena Duruwaa of the NPP also beat incumbent Mr Samuel Ambre of the NDC by polling 15,553 to beat Mr Ambre who had 10,751.

In the Gomoa Central Constituency, it was a ‘woman to woman’ affair, with the incumbent NDC MP for the area, Ms Rachel Appoh, losing the seat to Naana Eyiah of the NPP.

The Agona West Constituency also gave a woman the mandate to enter Parliament, voting NPP’s Cynthia Morrison. Ms Morrison polled 32,770 votes to beat Charles Obeng Inkoom, the incumbent MP who polled 23,423 votes.

Two incumbent women MPs

Two incumbent women MPs, Mrs Hawa Koomson, the incumbent MP for the Awutu Senya East Constituency; and Ms Pokua Sawyerr, the incumbent MP for Agona East, repeated their winning ways to secure their seats.

Though the figure is not encouraging, compared to the 17 males elected to Parliament in the region, it is an improvement over the 2012 Election figure.

In the Brong Ahafo Region, 12 candidates out of the 121 who contested the 29 seats in the region were women, but only two, Freda Prempeh (Tano North) and Felicia Adjei (Kintampo South) won their seats.

In the Shai Osudoku Constituency, the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency, Mrs Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo, beat three male contestants by polling 20,114 votes to win the seat, reports Mabel Aku Baneseh, Accra.

In her acceptance speech, Mrs Ocloo, who stood on the ticket of the NDC party after her husband, Mr William Ocloo, who was then the aspirant, died in a road accident in May this year, thanked the constituents for their votes and promised to create job opportunities for them.

Women in Transitional Team

The membership of the Transitional Team, which will be co-chaired by President John Dramani Mahama and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President-elect, with the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debra, appointed by President Mahama to lead a team of ministers in the transition, has six women from both the government’s side and from the side of the President-elect.

There are two women in the seven-member team from the government’s side namely, Madam Marietta Brew Appiah Opong, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice; and Ms Hanna S. Tetteh, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

The team from the side of the President-elect has four women, namely, Madam Frema Osei Opare, the Head of the Staff of Office of the President-elect; Ms Gloria Akuffo, Member responsible for Legal Affairs; Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Member responsible for Foreign Affairs; and Hajia Alima Mahama, Member responsible for Local Government.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, a number of reasons justified women’s participation in decision making, with the Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF-Ghana), a Pan African Women’s Rights network which aims to promote and reinforce strategies that link law to development, underscoring the need to give women the chance to move from voting to being voted for, in a statement.

During the celebration of the International Women’s Day on March 8 this year, the Women Caucus in Parliament appealed to Ghanaians to vote massively for female Parliamentary candidates in last Wednesday’s general elections, to give meaning to this year’s International Women’s Day celebration which is aiming for 50-50 Gender equality by the year 2030.

The Chairman of the Caucus and MP for Savelugu Nantom, Hajiah Mary Salifu Boforo, who made the statement on the floor of the House, expressed worry over prediction by the World Economic Forum that gender parity may only be achieved in the next 117 years, adding that the revelation signals that the next century, women, who constitute half of the world’s population, may be excluded from the developmental process.