Historicising The Women’s Manifesto for Ghana: A culmination of women’s activism in Ghana

Abstract

Women are one of Ghana's hidden growth resources. Yet, Ghanaian women have been marginalized from the developmental discourse by a succession of hegemonic political administrations. At best, Ghanaian women were said to have a quiet activism, although each epoch had its own character of struggle. Bringing together history, gender and development, this article examines the historical trajectory of female agency in postcolonial Ghana. It argues that through the historisation of women's activism, Ghanaian women's agency and advocacy towards women's rights and gender equality concerns rose from the era of quiet activism characterised by women's groups whose operations hardly questioned women's social status to contestation with the state epitomized by the creation of The Women's Manifesto for Ghana in 2004 which played a critical role in women's collective organisation and served as a key pathway of empowerment.

Playing for oman Ghana: Women’s Football and Gendered Nationalism

“…Although state and media narratives rhetorically championed support for women' s football, these entities maintained very narrow parameters for how women took up space in the nation. This finding confirms what feminist and gender scholars of the Ghanaian state have shown regarding women' s marginalization within state-building processes and national identity formation (Ampofo et al 2004;Amoah-Boampong 2004;Fallon 2003). When state entities pay attention to women, as Nana Akua Anyidoho and Takyiwah Manuh (2010) show, this attention is typically in the service of "development discourses".…”

We would rather be leaders than parliamentarians: women and political office in Ghana

“…Nor has more women in Parliament been a singular priority for women's organisations, though this changed somewhat in late 2019. 3 In Ghana, it is only during the last two decades that women's organising has been free of the demands of single-party or military rule -as when President Nkrumah co-opted the National Federation of Gold Coast Women into the ruling CPP in the 1960s or Flight Lt Jerry Rawlings and First Lady Rawlings created the 31st December Women's Movement as part of a Provisional National Defense Council patronage network in the 1980s (Manuh, 1991;Prah, 2007;Amoah-Boampong, 2018;Sackeyfio-Lenoch, 2018). The most significant women's organisations to emerge during the 'rebirth of women's activism' from the early 1990s onwards were a series of coalitions, including the Coalition on the Women's Manifesto for Ghana (2004Ghana ( , 2016 that published The women's manifesto for Ghana in 2004, with a second addition in 2016.…”

Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women and Girls through Gender Responsive Budgeting in Ghana

“…The ministry of Finance in the national budget statements from 2017 to 2020 highlights major provisions by government in collaboration with the MOGSP to comply with issues of gender in Ghana. To achieve gender equality and equity to satisfy the SDG goals 3 and 5, the MOGSP was supported to train over 400 'kayayei' and 20 People with Disabilities under the Livelihood and Pre-employment skills training models (Budget Statement, 2017;2018) To ensure mainstreaming of the National Gender Policy across all sectors and support the UN global agenda to ensure gender equality, equity and empowerment, capacity building workshop was organised for Gender Desk officers from Ministries department and agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on the rights, interests and special needs of women and girls. Awareness creation was carried out to encourage the involvement of men in the promotion of gender equality and empowerment Upper East, Ashanti and Central Regions under the "HeForShe" campaign (Budget Statement, 2018;2019;2020).…”