Ghanaians continue to enjoy the right to freedom of association with any political party or group of their choice. In the 2011 District APRM Governance Assessment Survey, as many as 94.8% of male respondents and 97.5% of female respondents indicated that they freely enjoyed this constitutional provision without insults, intimidation or threats from any member of society. Declaration of political affiliation In spite of the fact that the Constitution guarantees freedom of association for every citizen, Ghanaians, especially those working in the public sector are quite apprehensive of voicing their political leanings, even when they are not active card bearing members. There is a general perception that openingly declaring one’s political leanings might lead to victimization. 2.2.2 Participation and Inclusion Ghana has taken important practical steps towards achieving greater gender equality and promoting women’s participation in politics and public life in line with CEDAW. The country, however, is not a party to the CEDAW protocol accepting the jurisdiction of the CEDAW committee to receive individual complaints from Ghana. Even though the country’s Affirmative Action Policy establishes a 40 per cent quota for women’s representation on all government boards, commissions, committees and other official bodies, the public and political spaces continue to be dominated by males. At the national level, women representation in parliament decreased from 25 in the second parliament of the fourth republic to 19 in the third parliament of the fourth republic representing 10.9 per cent and 9.5 percent respectively (Table 2.2). Women ministers of state, however, increased from 4 in the second parliament to 7 in the third parliament representing 1.4 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. Given that the provisional results of the 2010 Population and Housing Census revealed that women make up more than 51 percent of Ghana’s total population, the current 19 female Parliamentarians is a lopsided representation. Sixth Annual APRM Progress Report: January – December 2011 6