Why can't we have a woman president?

As WOMANKIND’s programme manager for West Africa, Kanwal Ahluwalia focuses on supporting existing, and developing new, partnerships with women’s organisations in Ghana to reduce violence against women. In Accra, Kanwal experiences a country rich in resources, a dissatisfied electorate ― and WOMANKIND partners leading work on violence against women and HIV and AIDS.

Day 1 – The flight to Ghana was unusually full of obrunis or ‘white people’. Most turned out to be British and South African rescue teams responding to the severe floods in the north of the country which affected around 400 000 people — and swept away whole villages.

There were also the usual NGO types as well as Canadian missionaries. While in Business class sat the mining executives, off to oversee the extraction of Ghana’s numerous mineral resources. Just another of the contradictions facing not only Ghana but many other African nations.

In the taxi from the airport, Prince, the driver fills me in on what’s been happening in the six months since I was last in Accra. He talked about the hardship facing those affected by the floods — and the need for politicians to provide more emergency materials. On the flipside, the rains have meant that the daily power-cuts which were seriously hampering our partner organisations’ ability to work were now over, thanks to the Akosombo hydro-electric dam now being filled to the brim.

Prince went on to say that Ghanaians were fed up with the failure of politicians to deliver — echoing sentiments I’d heard on previous visits — to the extent that many people were threatening not to vote at the general election in December 2008. But when I asked Prince if he would vote, he replied with an emphatic ‘Yes!’ — the need to stand up and be counted was crucial.

We talked about WOMANKIND’s practical support to local women’s organisations, so that women felt competent and confident to stand for election — something he was very much in favour of. He felt that Ghana could only benefit from more women in power as they would be more sympathetic to the needs of the poor than their male counterparts. After all, if neighbouring Liberia could have a woman president, why couldn’t Ghana?

Prince also told me about his family; that he was one of eight brothers and sisters and that his elderly parents lived in the prosperous Ashanti Region. His sister was on her way there to seek their blessing to marry her boyfriend. This involved not only meeting the prospective husband but also a visit to his tribal area to verify that his family were worthy of marrying into. In the absence of living parents, this procedure can be carried out by an elder brother — another reminder of the patriarchal elements of women’s lives.

Although, ordinarily, the blessing is done prior to a marriage (and consummating the relationship) Prince reminded me that ‘Ghana is changing, so things are different now.’

Day 2 – Watching the evening news whilst eating supper in my guesthouse, I noticed that the Government were using cartoons to encourage people to vote — despite the election being 13 months away.

They’ve obviously cottoned on to the high level of public frustration and voter apathy. Given WOMANKIND’s strategic aim of supporting women to participate in political processes, of course I was on the look out for subliminal gender messages in the ads. Whilst women did feature, all the main characters, including the candidates, were men ― no wonder women only account for 9% of parliament.

Common basket-case?

Day 3 – Following a warm welcome, our long-time partners at the Gender Studies and Documentation Centre update me on their work. They talk about the difficulties of finding funds for their excellent work on violence against women and HIV and AIDS. Most aid to Ghana is managed through what is called the ‘common basket’ which means that the governments in the developed world, such as the UK, pool their funds in an attempt to harmonise their aid.

This is called Multi-Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS) — an increasingly common way of providing aid to the South. MDBS is radically altering the funding landscape and is shaping which NGOs will survive. Whilst much of the aid goes directly to the Ghanaian government ― the rhetoric is that they can spend it as they wish (although, generally, they need to show spending on education and health for example) ― there are many associated problems.1

One is that many women’s organisations aren’t able to access funds as they often are too small or not doing enough lobbying work. Two, recipient governments often have only a limited commitment to women’s rights and gender equality which, coupled with weak women’s ministries, means that there is little being done at the national level to achieve women’s rights. So, this job is often left to a small but vocal group of women’s organisations ― many of which are partners of WOMANKIND. But our partners are finding it increasingly hard to obtain funds through the common basket, which is a highly competitive process.

Next year, Ghana is hosting a meeting to review the Paris Declaration, which is meant to monitor the way that aid is disbursed. This is a key event and one that partners and WK will be following keenly.

Day 4 – The next morning Prince drives me to the Gender Centre’s office. We sit bumper to bumper in the stifling heat. Young boys and girls wind through the traffic selling everything from maps to packs of tissues to CDs of religious music. A disabled man asks for money from the stationary cars. The shanty-town we drive through is a hive of activity ― women making doughnuts to sell, and taxi drivers polishing their cars.

Traffic is one of the most hotly discussed topics amongst the residents of Accra. Yesterday, Esther, the Documentation Officer at Gender Centre, explained how people start leaving their homes at 5.30 am to get to their offices on time.

A huge problem is collecting children from school at 2pm. Parents just can’t pick them up, take them home and get back to work because of the congestion.

The government is making some efforts to deal with this impact from rural migrants coming to the cities in search of work. The infrastructure is improving but, say Ghanaians wryly, this is because 2008 is election year …

Day 5 – yet another traffic jam on the way back to my guesthouse, but a great opportunity to get Prince’s take on things again. We talk about the women hawkers on the beach road selling odds and ends ― a visible sign of what is called the informal economy. I ask how much they would expect to make standing in the hot sun all day, dodging cars and motorbikes. Prince tells me that, on average, they would take about 3 to 4 cedis (£2-3) to provide for the whole family. He says that many women resort to prostitution to make ends meet. What alternative do they have, being uneducated and without other opportunities? What’s worrying, he says, is that they are getting younger and younger – some as young as 13 or 14. And the recent war in Liberia has resulted in many Liberian girls and women coming across the border to work in the sex trade.

We also talk about HIV: although many women get infected, as they don’t always show symptoms for several years, they aren’t aware that they are HIV-positive. Many young men don’t want to use condoms and believe that if they are spiritually strong enough or they get hold of some medicine from a fetish priest, they won’t get infected.

A worrying story indeed. Especially as the prevalence of HIV in Ghana is on the increase ― with young women being disproportionately vulnerable, not only for physical reasons (for example, a greater surface area of genitals being exposed during sex and semen being more likely to carry the virus), but all sorts of gender norms also put women at greater risk.

These include, for example, the fact that women are not meant to know much about sex and are subservient to a man’s sexual needs. This means that a woman is rarely able to negotiate with a sexual partner, even her husband, to use a condom. WOMANKIND’s partners have been undertaking research in two areas with a high incidence of HIV and are developing work looking at gender stereotypes and how they are affecting women’s vulnerability to the virus.

Day 9 – It’s my first day off and I spend it with friends. One big topic of conversation is the discovery of oil off the coast of Ghana ― generating equal amounts of optimism and concern. Many Ghanaians are only too knowledgeable about the conflict and bloodshed that has resulted from oil extraction in neighbouring Nigeria ― but they’re also aware that the oil could mean billions in revenue for Ghana, and real development.

However, they are optimistic that oil dollars won’t be lining the pockets of the politicians as Ghana’s vibrant (and often critical) media has been discussing the topic feverishly. The general opinion is that citizens will hold the government accountable for using the oil revenues wisely — with an election coming up. NPP, the ruling party, has no fewer than 19 presidential candidates lining up for a stab at running the soon-to-be oil-rich country.

Ghana is rich in minerals – gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese and now oil. But the story so far is that many multinational companies have been mining for these resources, often from the lands of some of the poorest and most marginalised men and women in the country. Much of the wealth has been taken out of Ghana without ordinary Ghanaians reaping the benefits.

WOMANKIND is developing work with NETRIGHT, the Network of Women’s Rights in Ghana to train up member organisations to educate their communities to see the links between micro- and macro-economic issues ― for example, how mining can impact on their communities, their livelihoods and the environment ― so they’ll be able to lobby the government effectively.

You can read more about our partners in Ghana, and the women we are helping them to support, in the Spring 2008 WOMANKIND newsletter. To go on our mailing list for print and e-communications, contact: info@womankind.org.uk ― and don’t forget to include your address!

1. For another WOMANKIND perspective on how new aid modalities are affecting women around the world, read Brita Fernandez-Schmidt’s blog