HOW NKRUMAH EMPOWERED GHANAIAN WOMEN By: SALOME DONKOR THE role
of Ghanaian women in politics and other public offices is one
the burning governance issues, largely because of the perceived
and acknowledged potential and contribution of women to
governance. A recent study by Dr. Beatrix Allah–Mensah of the
Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Legon,
on Women in Politics and Public Life indicated that there was
ample evidence to substantiate the indispensable role women
played in the prelude to independence and immediately after it.
The study revealed that the role of women was evident in the
support they gave to the main political party of the time, the
Convention People’s Party (CPP), and it is also on record that
women traders were keen supporters of the CPP government and
also offered financial assistance and supportive services. Soon
after the formation of the CPP in 1949, for instance, some of
them, notably Akua Asabea, stood shoulder to shoulder with their
male counterparts like Kofi