Ghana
Parliament
Data on women
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Basic information > About parliament
Speaker
Speaker
Alban Sumana
Kingsford Bagbin
(Male)
Year of birth
1957
Additional information
Elected on 7 Jan. 2021.
Secretary general
Secretary General
Cyril
Oteng Nsiah
(Male)
Notes
Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
Appointed on 7 May 2020.
Members
Current number of members, by sex
Men
The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
235
Women
The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
Percentage of women
Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
Age
Average age of all members
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member (years)
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
Francisca Oteng-Mensah (Female)
Oldest member (years)
Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
72
Oldest member
Benson Tongo Baba (Male)
Reserved seats and quotas
Electoral quota for women
Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Elections > Election results
Results
Members elected, by sex
Number of men elected
235
Number of women elected
40
Percentage of women elected
The percentage is calculated by dividing the number of women elected in the election and the number of seats at stake at the election.
14.55%
Number of women after election or renewal, by mode of designation
Women Directly Elected
40
New legislature
Total number of men after the election
The total number of male parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
235
Total number of women after the election
The total number of female parliamentarians in this parliament/chamber following the election or renewal, regardless of their modes of designation.
40
First Speaker of the new legislature
First Speaker of the new legislature
First name of the Speaker of the new legislature following the election or renewal.
Alban Kingsford
Sumana Bagbin
(Male)
Political party
National Democratic Congress (NDC)
Date of election
07.01.2021
Elections > Historical data on women
Women's suffrage
Date of independence
For countries that become independent after 1940
1957
Women’s right to vote
Women’s right to vote
Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1954
National or local
Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage
Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes
Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
Prior to independence, under British administration women were granted the right to vote in 1954, under British administration. This right was confirmed at independence.
Women’s right to stand for election
Women's right to stand for election
Year in which women obtained the right to stand for election
1954
National or local
Stand for Election: National or Local
National
First woman in parliament
First woman in parliament
Year in which first woman entered parliament
1960
First woman speaker
Year of first woman speaker
Date at which, for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, a woman became Presiding Officer of Parliament or of one of its Houses.
2009
Specialized body - Women's caucus
Parliamentarian Women's Caucus
(January 1993)
The caucus is open to male MPs
Yes
The caucus is cross-party
Yes
Notes
The Caucus was established with the objective of demonstrating women’s presence in the Legislature in the context of descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation of the Ghanaian woman.
There are rules governing the functioning of the caucus
Yes
Activities
Issues dealt with by the caucus
Advocates for girl-child education and promotes initiatives against domestic violence and gender-biased cultural practices, such as widowhood rites and female genital mutilation, besides promoting affirmative action at all levels of government and society.
The Caucus has been successful in establishing vocational schools for training women, in offering short-term loans to women, and in encouraging the Government of Ghana to sign on to the United Nation’s Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2003. The Caucus provides sound research on gender concerns, it monitors and evaluates government action with respect to gender issues and carries out analysis of the gender implications of the bills passed by Parliament.
The Caucus has been successful in establishing vocational schools for training women, in offering short-term loans to women, and in encouraging the Government of Ghana to sign on to the United Nation’s Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2003. The Caucus provides sound research on gender concerns, it monitors and evaluates government action with respect to gender issues and carries out analysis of the gender implications of the bills passed by Parliament.