A Review of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024, (act 1121) of Ghana.

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made” Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice of the US Supreme Court.

INTRODUCTION

In July 2024, the 8th Parliament of the Republic of Ghana passed the Affirmative Action
(Gender Equity) Bill into law.1 The Bill received Presidential Assent on the 11th day of
September 2024 and hence became an Act of Parliament as part of the laws of the
Republic pursuant to Article 11(1)(b) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The proper
citation of the law therefore became, Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act 2024, (Act
1121). In the remaining part of this paper, the Author proposes to do a brief review of the
Act, with the aim of providing some education and insight into this new piece of
progressive legislation, taking cognizance of the fact that this legislation, although long
overdue, may not be known to many without much publicity and conscientization and
the Author contributes to that enterprise. Some strides seem to have been made in Ghana with regard to Affirmative Action and Gender Equity. For the first time in the history of Ghana, there is a female Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang. The current Chief Justice, Her Lordship Justice Getrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo is a female and so were other two Chief Justices before her, Her Lordship Justice Georgina Theodora Wood (15 June 2007 – 8 June 2017), and Her Lordship Justice Sophia A.B Akuffo (19 June 2017 – 20 December 2019) all being women. In September 2024, specifically and coincidentally on the day the law received Presidential assent, 11th September 2024 the Ghana Bar Association, at its Annual conference in Kumasi, for the first time since its inception elected its first female president in the person of Mrs. Efua Ghartey,
2 among others to which the Author shall return.
Constitutional Basis for the Affirmative Action and Gender Equity Legislation

Link to paper : AFFIRMATION ACTION GENDER EQUITY ACT 2024 ACT 1121_A REVIEW_10-04-2025 final (1) (1)