Women’s Manifesto in Ghana: Ghana's Civil Society's 'Roadmap' for Women's Advancement

In Ghana a 'Women's Manifesto', issued by civil society organisations (CSOs) in 2004, has created momentum and awareness around women's rights and gender equality. Almost 10 years after its adoption, the Manifesto continues to inspire and guide CSOs, particularly women's organisations, in their struggle to improve the lives of Ghanaian women and girls.

Voices & Views written by Renée Zandvliet

The Women's Manifesto for Ghana is a political statement by Ghanaian women demanding rights and equality. It resulted from insufficient attention to critical issues affecting women including under-representation in politics, policy and decision-making, and in public life in general. Through the Manifesto, women's organisations wanted to provide an agenda for policy makers, making clear that 'women know what they want'.

It covers a wide range of issues, including women and land; discriminatory cultural practices; women and the media; and women's economic empowerment. All these challenges are discussed from a national perspective in order to highlight that they are having a negative impact on society as a whole. 'This suggests therefore that women are not thinking about themselves alone. It is not about identity politics, but about the nation as a whole and what the different needs and concerns are. And then we make demands as to what should be done.' explained Rose Mensah-Kutin, the Director of ABANTU for Development.

ABANTU for Development aims to strengthen the capacity of women to participate in decision-making at all levels, to influence policies from a gender perspective and to address inequalities and injustices in social relations. The Manifesto stemmed from a research and advocacy project initiated by the organisation in 2003, working collaboratively with a broad coalition of women’s organisations and other CSOs. As part of this project, a series of consultations were held with different stakeholders in 2003 and 2004 to deliberate on the situation of women in Ghana.

The inauguration of the Women's Manifesto in September 2004 also marked the formation of the Women’s Manifesto Coalition (WMC), a broad coalition of different CSOs, which advocates for broader participation of women in society, and monitors government efforts to address women's needs. The membership of the Coalition, which is hosted by ABANTU for Development, includes about 35 organisations, many of which are themselves coalitions and networks, as well as over 700 individual women and men. 

The Coalition has launched a number of initiatives linked to the Women's Manifesto, including a biannual conference for women in district assemblies and a mentoring programme for young women in tertiary education institutions. Some of the demands of the Manifesto have been addressed through concerted action with other networks and coalitions. They include the passage of bills on domestic violence, trafficking and disability.

Given the difficulties in sourcing funding for institutional building and strengthening, regular communication with its membership is often a challenge for the Coalition. As many organisations are located in remote areas, far from the capital Accra, the Coalition uses email, phone calls and text messages to communicate with its members. In addition, local FM radio stations are used to disseminate information about the work of the Coalition.

The European Union (EU) has provided support to the follow-up of the Women's Manifesto since 2008. For example, it provided support to a three-year affirmative action programme through which ABANTU for Development works with the Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs and members of the Women's Manifesto Coalition. As a result, recently a committee was set up to draft an Affirmative Action Bill.

In addition, with support of STAR Ghana (a multi-donor civil society funding mechanisms supported by the EU), the Women's Manifesto Coalition used the 2012 general elections, to strengthen its advocacy around some of the Manifesto themes. It worked with the Ghana Journalists Association, the Ghana Institute of Journalism as well as individual media organisations to strengthen their capacity to report on issues of concern to women and to encourage them to increase the visibility of women in the media.

Although not all demands have been met and major challenges remain, the Women's Manifesto has contributed to more targeted and coordinated efforts by civil society to promote gender equality and ultimately national development. Ms. Mensah-Kutin explained the significance of the Women's Manifesto: "It has been like the roadmap with which we are working on gender issues in this country. It is a civil society document, but everybody, people in parliament, government officials, everybody makes reference to it. The landscape of women's rights issues has changed dramatically since then. The thinking, the attitude, the policy interest in women's rights issues has really increased since the development of the Women's Manifesto for Ghana."”

Renée filmed her meeting with Ms. Mensah-Kutin. For more information on the Women’s Manifesto and the origins of ABANTU, you can watch extracts from their conversation in the Increased Women’s Participation and Representation in Politics in Ghana Project, which can be found in the Gender group on capacity4dev.eu. Alternatively please visit the Abantu Nigeria Country office or the Abantu Regional Office for Western Africa (ROWA) website.

This collaborative piece was drafted by Renée Zandvliet with input from Rose Mensah-Kutin and Joseph Bogrebon Allan, with support from the capacity4dev.eu Coordination Team.