Last September a striking story stole the headlines of newspapers and media outlets all across Ghana. Samia Nkrumah, the daughter of the nation's founding father, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, became the first female chairperson of a political party in the country's history as an independent state.
The event was lauded as a giant leap forward in women's political participation within Ghana and was rich in symbolism: the daughter of the fallen visionary who delivered independence to the small West African nation and made it a known entity to the rest of the world had become the first female chairperson of the political party her father founded.
The Convention People's Party (CPP) was politically powerful before President Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup in 1966. But in 2011 the CPP casts a thin shadow of its former glory - it holds only one seat in parliament and its relevance derives from its role in the independence movement and establishing the first republic. Samia's victory was a significant achievement, but it does not reflect a broader shift in the attitudes towards women in politics, within the citizenry and major political parties, but rather underscored a deeper problem within Ghana's political culture. Contrary to the celebratory newspaper headlines, the event demonstrated that the political sphere continues to be the dominion of men.
Read more in AllAfrica.com, published 11 January
Last September a striking story stole the headlines of newspapers and media outlets all across Ghana. Samia Nkrumah, the daughter of the nation's founding father, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, became the first female chairperson of a political party in the country's history as an independent state.
The event was lauded as a giant leap forward in women's political participation within Ghana and was rich in symbolism: the daughter of the fallen visionary who delivered independence to the small West African nation and made it a known entity to the rest of the world had become the first female chairperson of the political party her father founded.
The Convention People's Party (CPP) was politically powerful before President Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup in 1966. But in 2011 the CPP casts a thin shadow of its former glory - it holds only one seat in parliament and its relevance derives from its role in the independence movement and establishing the first republic. Samia's victory was a significant achievement, but it does not reflect a broader shift in the attitudes towards women in politics, within the citizenry and major political parties, but rather underscored a deeper problem within Ghana's political culture. Contrary to the celebratory newspaper headlines, the event demonstrated that the political sphere continues to be the dominion of men.
Read more in AllAfrica.com, published 11 January