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Nana Konadu Agyeman, Former First Lady has questioned why queen mothers are not permitted in the house of chiefs in the Ghana.

The Former First Lady noted that if Queen mothers are the custodians of our culture and play major roles in advising our chiefs, why are they not in the house of chiefs.

“Why are they not literally in the halls of real power, in the house of chiefs, which should be renamed the house of chiefs and queen mothers?,” she questioned.

She was speaking at a symposium held under the auspices of Danquah Institute in Accra. It was held on the theme; “Women empowerment: how critical is it to National Development?”

She added that there is clearly a gender imbalance that did not originate from our culture and disclosed that there was a shift that caused this imbalance over the period.
She called for an affirmative action to begin to correct this imbalance and stated that if we reach for gender parity at all levels in the country, there would be better formulation and implementation of policies.

She appealed to women in parliament to use the democratic tools at their disposal to bring about a gender revolution.

“I have spoken about this, female parliamentarians firstly, must identify their gender sensitive male counterpart and form a coalition with them,” she said.

She asked them to reach out to their constituents in conjunction with women’s NGOs and added that signatures must be collected to push for the passing of the affirmative action bill.

The National Coordinator, One District, One Factory, Gifty Ohene-Konadu reiterated that gender roles in Ghana to a large extent is shaped by culture, tradition, religion and history.

The trend according to her, has generally put women in a disadvantaged position and stated that transforming cultures and traditions requires, “initiatives that work with both men and women to promote women’s involvement in politics”.

She called for the need to have preferential treatment for women to increase their numbers and opportunities.

“The clarion call is that women need preferential policies to enable them play active role in policy formulation and policy implementation in Ghana,” she said.
She described as barely ajar opportunities for women in terms of economic and political, while doors to education and health have opened rapidly.