WOMEN'S CITIZENSHIP VERSUS INVOLVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE: THE NEED FOR TRANSFORMING POLITICAL SPACES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

Despite the enviable democratic credentials and leadership role exhibited by Ghana within the African Region, democratisation and governance in Ghana is compromised with cultural demands and gender role expectations dominated by patriarchal societal norms. Premised on the fact that gender equality, full citizenship rights and equal opportunities between men and women are constitutional provisions, this paper uses existing empirical literature and relevant secondary data sources to discuss the status of Ghanaian women under a democratically constitutional governance. It presents how gender structures and systems condition women as minors and subject them to marginalisation and oppression within households, communities and in religious as well as state institutions due to discriminatory implementation of national policies. This paper provides insights into the identity of women as rightful citizens with equal rights to opportunities as men versus the role confusion over the level of participation in several aspects of life such as education, employment, healthcare, control of resources and political life. The paper argues that in spite of the constitutional provision of common humanity of both men and women and the important contributions of women towards nation-building in areas of production, family care activities, educational attainment and the fight for women's human rights, women are still treated as minors occupying subordinate positions at all levels of society. This paper calls for multi-sectoral adoption and implementation of culturally sensitive and structurally transformative agency strategies as well as gender responsive policies and programmes especially in state institutions through active engagement of men as role models, agents of change and indirect beneficiaries of women's empowerment.