The Use Of Gender Quota System In Promoting Women’s Political Representation In Rwanda: Lessons For Ghana

Abstract

Today, there are more women representatives in the Rwandan legislature than in many democracies globally. This achievement can be attributed to the adoption of a gender quota system and explicit affirmative action interventions in political institutions. The adoption of these gender quotas has caused many women in Parliament to support the enactment of laws and to make decisions that have gone a long way to empower women and address some issues that once affected women in Rwanda. On the other hand, Ghana which attained independence more than six decades ago and is a role model for democracy in Africa still struggles today to have more women representation in the national legislature and other public offices. This study discusses the lessons Ghana can learn from the Rwandan experience to adopt a gender quota strategy that encourages women’s representation in Parliament and other public offices. Through the theoretical lens of Critical Mass as a means of analysing the effectiveness of women who occupy top political and corporate positions such as national parliaments, the study adopted the qualitative research design to understand the use of the gender quota system in promoting women’s political representation and well-being in Rwanda and what lessons Ghana can draw from it. The research findings revealed that while gender quotas have been successfully implemented in Eastern and Southern Africa, West African countries including Ghana have not structured the implementation of gender quotas, particularly because of the dominance of the First past the post electoral system in West African countries. The study, therefore recommends that Ghana can maintain its First Past The Post electoral system and still pass gender quota laws, specifically, the legislative quotas with strong enforcement measures.