Representation in participation matters. To many, this is the major reason for the campaign to have the marginalized and the excluded purposively brought forward in all discourse and discussion. Representation should not be tokenistic. Representation should be empowering. In the matters of women participation and women representation, it is a safe to say that some considerable progress has been made globally. In Ghana, the cultural prescriptions on the role of the woman has been cited severally albeit loosely to be the reason for the lack of women representation and participation in our body politic. The notion that politics is a “dirty-job” has for long been the excuse for excluding women in political leadership roles. It is therefore not surprising that, in the 4th republic, the first woman Presidential Aspirant was Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings. This came in the 2016 Presidential Elections, 24 years into the 4th Republic. Prior to this, women had been selected as Running Mates in prior Presidential Elections. In the 2012 Presidential Elections, 3 women were selected as running mates, reducing to 1 in the 2016 Presidential Election. These perhaps were precursors of bigger things to come. Some have argued that the selection of Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang as the running mate of the National Democratic Congress (Ghana’s largest and perhaps most influential opposition party) Presidential Candidate is the ceiling breaking moment, as the earlier aspirants were all from minor political parties. To this I say, representation matters, and participation is important.
