Ghana

Community Action Team members, Ghana

Women in Ghana

Despite Ghana’s recent economic growth and continued political stability, the challenges facing women in Ghana today remain huge:

• In many parts of Ghanaian society poverty and social exclusion are deepening

• Gender inequality undermines efforts to reduce poverty and improve living conditions

Specific challenges include:

1. No access to land and credit

2. Continuing discriminatory traditional practices;

3. Domestic violence

4. Being excluded from decision-making at all levels – from villages to the national parliament.

The Government of Ghana has made efforts to try to address some of these issues but women’s rights organisations are growing disillusioned with the failure of the Government to keep its promises to women.

Womankind in Ghana

Womankind has been working in Ghana for over 20 years. We have built partnerships with some of Ghana’s most active and effective women’s rights organisations.

Our early work supported projects in the north working to empower women economically.

In recent years we have been focussing on addressing the underlying causes of discrimination and violence against women. Find out more about the work we are doing in Ghana.

Achievements to Date

Our partners successfully lobbied for and secured the passage of the Domestic Violence Act 2007; an important step towards addressing gender-based violence in Ghana
We have established community based anti-violence teams which operate in 17 communities around Ghana
We have persuaded traditional and religious Chiefs in 3 regions to advocate the use of condoms to reduce HIV and AIDS

Women’s voices

Robbed of the right to family: Women coming to terms with HIV in Ghana

Programme Manager Catherine visits Ghana’s Volta region to meet our partner FIDA-Ghana, who train community women to provide vital emotional support and guidance to women affected by HIV and AIDS.

Happy Mother’s Day to mothers around the world

Many of the women we support are mothers. For Mother's Day Ellen Stuart reflects on the ways her own mother has encouraged her to speak up for herself and other women.

Speaking out for equality

Womankind volunteer Nicole spoke about global feminism and the work of Womankind's partners in Ghana at the University of Southampton

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