Ms Baaba Brew Fleischer, Central Regional Coordinator of the Ghana NGO Coalition, on Thursday appealed to the media to champion the activities of aspiring women parliamentarians to facilitate the election of more women MPs.
She stressed that the present situation where a large number of women were absent from public decision- making structures in the country, should be the concern of all Ghanaians.
Ms Fleischer, who was addressing a day's workshop on "participation of women in election 2004" for media practitioners and civil society organisations at Cape Coast said women needed to know that politics is not the preserve of men alone.
Media personnel from the various print and electronic houses, opinion leaders, assembly members, polling station agents and queenmothers were among the participants.
Ms Fleischer observed that for women's issues to be effectively addressed more women needed to be encouraged to vie for high positions.
She said the workshop was to advocate for women's participation in politics while sensitising Ghanaians about the need to ensure free and fair elections among others.
She said the Coalition, had designed a programme to help educate aspiring women MPs to build up their confidence and also dwell on issues for their campaign messages to be well articulated.
Mrs Cecilia Edu, an educationist and queenmother of Ansafona, a village near Abakrampa noted that illiteracy, shyness and poverty were among the inhibiting factors that discouraged women from actively engaging in politics.
She said the Coalition would therefore address some of these issues through workshops.