Emmanuel Gazari, Senior Field Officer with the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) has expressed strong support for the newly passed Affirmative Action Bill.
He welcomed the bill as a significant step towards dismantling the structural barriers that have historically obstructed women and marginalized groups from attaining leadership roles.
He emphasized that the legislation is expected to foster greater inclusivity within society. “We believe that now, with this bill, we are able to remove the structural barriers that have historically prevented women and the marginalized from accessing leadership positions and will promote more inclusivity in our society.”
Highlighting the challenges faced by women in the Upper East Region, he noted key issues including limited access to education, economic dependency, a shortage of female role models, restrictive socialization practices, and forced marriages as cultural barriers that hinder women from pursuing leadership positions.
“Some of these women, you leave your community to marry in another community, you have all the leadership traits, you want to contest for a leadership position and they tell you that this is not your father’s house. Go back to your father’s house and lead them. Now you go back to your father’s house and they say you can’t also come from your husband’s house to lead us. It is something cultural.”
“This is something that has been long held by us within the region and it is something that is affecting us,” he added.
Despite the progress represented by the bill, Mr. Gazari underscored that it alone does not guarantee immediate access to leadership roles. “This doesn’t guarantee automatic access to leadership positions.”
He stressed the need for ongoing engagement, sensitization, and collective effort from all sectors—civil society, government, development partners, and the media—to create meaningful opportunities for women. “There should be a lot of engagement and a lot of sensitization.”
“Civil society, government, development partners, the media; we need to find a way of encouraging the women to step up so that they take the opportunities. Because even if I am available to support you and you are not coming up, there’s nothing I can do about that,” he said.
Mr. Gazari called for a collaborative approach to ensure that the bill’s objectives are fully realized and not merely seen as ‘another’ unfulfilled legislative promise. He urged stakeholders to examine the bill critically to address any potential gaps and maximize its effectiveness once enacted. “What I want to encourage is, all stakeholders should look at the bill and let’s find out what gaps are there and see how we can address them so that when this bill is finally passed into law, we really achieve the purpose for which we pass it. If not, it is going to be like any other bill that has been passed and nobody is following suit.”
“I have the belief that women are effective, women are efficient and women are capable,” he added.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|Gifty Eyram Kudiabor|Bolgatanga|
