When will a woman head the state? A historical gendered analysis of Ghana’s fourth republican democracy

A Historical Analysis of Gender Representation in Ghana’s Fourth Republican Democracy

Abstract

In November of 2016, a woman contested for the presidency of the United States of America. She lost, not to a seasoned, but a novice male politician who could comfortably challenge the most disliked American president's title. Why Americans will reject an experienced female politician and elect a novice male politician re-ignites the ‘woman question’ in contemporary world politics. While the woman question in the 1970s-90s was focused on the women's rights to vote and participate in the state's decision-making processes, the woman question today is whether the world is ready for female leadership at the highest level of the state. Using historical data on women's representation in Ghanaian governance since 1992, the paper reveals that women representation in parliament and ministerial appointments have averaged 11% and 14% respectively and that the NPP has proportionally elected more women (13%) than the NDC (9%) over the period.  The results also showed wide regional disparities in elected women parliamentarians, with the greater Accra (20%) and Central (19%) regions recording the highest and the Upper West (3%) and Northern (6%) regions recording the lowest. The historical gender representation analysis, in addition to factors such as the type of presidential system of governance practiced in Ghana, the stability of the country and its democratic institutions, all lead to a conclusion that the chances of a female rising to the post of president in Ghana are very negligible.