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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]