Parliament has passed the Affirmative Action, Gender Equity Bill 2024.
The Bill aims to address social, cultural, economic and political gender imbalance resulting from historic structural and social causes of gender inequality and provide affirmative action for gender equity in the public and private sectors.
The Bill was presented to the House on Friday, June 14, 2024, by the Minister for Education on behalf of the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection.
Pursuant to Articles 103(3) and 106(4) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 237 of the Standing Orders of the House, the Bill was referred to the Committee on Gender, Children and Social Welfare for consideration and report.
In its report to the House, the Committee admitted that the gender parity targets in the Bill would be difficult to achieve considering the historical data and statistics available and owing to cultural and traditional beliefs and constitutional constraints.
It stressed, therefore, that to achieve gender parity and other targets, there is a need for continuous education, advocacy, and pragmatic policies, such as quota systems.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, earlier expressed his dissatisfaction with the Bill.
He argued that the bill’s content did not specifically address issues relevant to Ghana, but instead focuses more on matters in other countries and encouraged women to aspire but also to manage their aspirations.
Speaking on the passage in parliament on Tuesday, July 30, 2024 the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin said “Honourable members the ‘ayes’ have it. The Affirmative Action Gender Equality Bill 2024 now the Affirmative Action Gender Equity Act duly read the third time and passed.”
