The Vice President Jane Mayemu Ansah has called for reforms in electoral laws, political party systems and campaign financing to ensure that women have equal opportunities to participate in politics and contest in elections.

The Vice President made the call in her virtual keynote address during the Inaugural high level Annual Conference on Gender and Elections in Africa (COGE) on Thursday.

Ansah said there are three priority areas which includes for governments and legislatures to examine the legal, institutional and financial arrangements that shape women’s political participation, Identify the reforms required, assign responsibility, resources and have timetable for implementations.

“To political parties, reform the processes through which political opportunity is distributed, make nominations transparent, give women fair access to competitive positions and campaign resources, strengthen women’s leadership pipelines and ensure that political violence and gendered abuse are addressed through clear rules and meaningful accountability.” She added.

Additionally, she urged the electoral management bodies, to make gender equality an integral part of electoral integrity, strengthen accessible and confidential reporting mechanisms for political violence and ensure that electoral assessments identify not only whether elections were conducted properly, but also whether women could participate and compete fairly.

She noted that Africa established important normative fundamentals for democratic participation and gender equality, hence the need to translate those commitments into measurable change.