“Did You See What Happened to the Market Women?” Legacies of Military Rule for Women’s Political Leadership in Ghana?

In the first 35 years of independence, Ghana experienced long periods of military rule - from 1966 to1969, from 1972 to 1979 and from 1981to 1992. Under military rule, neither women nor men are elected to political office and because the military is generally a male-dominated institution women have few opportunities for leadership. In Ghana, market women were a particular target of military rulers and a woman judge was among three judges brutally killed during the last military regime. This does not mean, however, that military regimes do not seek to mobilize women to their own ends and/or co-opt women/gender and development discourses. This can be accomplished through the establishment of state sanctioned (often ‘first lady-led’) women’s associations, such as the 31st December Women’s Movement, to the detriment of any other women-focused civil society organizations and activism. This essay seeks to interrogate the impact of military rule in Ghana on women’s political leadership. In 2015 scholars reported an ongoing ‘pervasive sense of insecurity’ and fear during presidential and parliamentary elections that discourages many women in particular from contesting elections. To what extent has the legacy of decades of military rule contributed to a sense of insecurity and fear, impacting the prospects for women’s political leadership, in particular in parliament where candidates must stand for election? This essay provides a preliminary reading on this topic. Heritages du regime militaire pour le leadership politique des femmes au Ghana Resume Dans les 35 premieres annees de l’independance, le Ghana a connu de longues periodes de regime militaire. Sous le regime militaire, ni les femmes ni les hommes ne sont elus a aucun poste politique. En raison du fait que l’armee est generalement une institution dominee par les hommes, les femmes avaient peu de possibilites pour le leadership. Au Ghana, les femmes du marche etaient des cibles pour les leaders militaires et, en consequence, une femme juge a fait partie des trois juges qui ont ete brutalement assassines pendant le dernier regime militaire. Toutefois, ceci ne signifie pas que les regimes militaires ne cherchent pas a organiser les femmes a leurs fins et ou a coopter les discours sur les femmes/le genre et le developpement. Ceci est realise a travers l’etablissement des associations de femmes reconnues par l’Etat (souvent sous la direction de la Premiere Dame), telles que le groupe 31st December Women’s Movement, au detriment de tout(e) autre organisation de la societe civile ou militantisme concentre(e) sur les femmes. Cet article cherche a mettre en cause l’impact du regime militaire au Ghana sur le leadership politique des femmes. En 2015, des chercheurs ont rapporte l’existence continue d’un « sentiment d’insecurite repandu » et de peur durant les elections parlementaires et presidentielles, ce qui decourage les femmes, en particulier, de se presenter aux elections. Dans quelle mesure l’heritage des decennies de regime militaire a-t-il contribue au sentiment d’insecurite et de peur, affectant, en consequence, les perspectives de leadership politique des femmes, particulierement, en ce qui concerne les elections parlementaires?