On June 28, 1960, Ghana’s first parliament made a groundbreaking move by including ten women among its members.
This historic event marked the beginning of formal female representation in Ghanaian politics.
The ten women Susanna Alhassan, Ayaoni Bukari, Victoria Nyarko, Sophia Doku, Mary Koranteng, Grace Ayensu, Christiana Wilmot, Comfort Asamoah, Lucy Anin, and Regina Asamany were elected to parliament following the passage of the Representation of the People’s Women Bill.
This bill, championed by the Convention People’s Party (CPP), was signed into law by the Governor-General on June 16, 1960, shortly before Ghana became a republic.
According to Kabral Blay-Amihere’s book, “1947–1957: The Story of Ghana’s Independence,” these women were chosen to occupy special seats created specifically to integrate women into parliamentary life.
This initiative was part of a broader effort to recognize the contributions of Ghanaian women and include them in national governance.
Blay-Amihere emphasizes that the inclusion of these female MPs was not an act of tokenism but a genuine recognition of their capabilities and contributions.
The electoral system designed for these positions was meant to be temporary and lacked provisions for replacing members in cases of resignation or other changes.
Overall, this move was a significant step toward acknowledging and honoring the role of women in Ghana’s political and social development.
“They had arrived at the pivot of their own political career on their own merit as part of the Nationalist Movement and members of the CPP who had fought for independence but had been marginalized by representation in that epoch of male dominance in the Legislative Assemblies of 1951, 1964 and 1956.
“They had contributed immensely to the electoral fortunes of their male counterparts. They represented a new dimension of politics in Ghana in which women would have representation in the decision-making process at all levels.
“Their membership in Parliament was, in many ways, a long-time recognition of the sacrifices of Ghanaian women and their role in the nationalist movement, which many commentators had failed to accept,” as quoted in the book, “1947-1957: The Story of Ghana’s Independence.”
The statement also highlighted that upon Ghana’s attainment of independence, the British newspaper Manchester Guardian credited the success of the nationalist movement to a male-dominated elite and a single high school in the country.
However, CLR James, a writer for the paper, contended that this view overlooked the significant and unique contributions of women to the nationalist struggle.
“In the struggle for independence, one market woman in Accra, and there were 15,000 of them, was worth my Achimota graduates. The highly educated ones were either hostile to Nkrumah and his party or stood aside.
“The social forces that made the revelation were the workers, the market women, and the stratum of youth educated in primary schools, which had not been subjected to the influence of British education,” as quoted in the book, 1947-1957: The Story of Ghana’s Independence.
The book also highlighted how women contributed to fostering cohesion and national unity within the Convention People’s Party (CPP).