Women Chiefs and Power in the Volta Region of Ghana

Abstract

This paper considers the roles of women as significant actors in public life, the life of communities, and particularly the roles of women who have the status and title of 'chief', however that is interpreted in the local context. I am particularly concerned to show the significances of these roles over time in one part of Ghana, the Avatime traditional area. However, I do not intend to enter the debates on the origins and evolution of chiefship in Ghana and women's roles therein (nor would I claim to be competent to do so). My aim is to look briefly at the structure of chiefship in very general terms in the Volta Region, and, more specifically, in Avatime, where I have been working intermittently since 1973. The 'traditional' roles of women chiefs/ Queen Mothers (the terminology itself could be a focus for debate) are discussed, but I want to do more than just to give a static, single frame and historic (antiquated?) picture. Whatever the roles and significances of women chiefs in the past, the intention here is to show how the contemporary influence of women office holders in particular is linked to their active involvement in the affairs of community. My major point vis-a-vis current politics and development in Ghana is that it is not enough just to hold a title: in order to be influential women have to be active in currently relevant organisations concerned with politics or development. Women without formal titles may now have more influence or sway in local affairs than official office holders, even though they may be constrained to work through the channels of office holding. But it is worth considering in addition the possibility that the scope of women's influences, given this shift in its base, may well be able to increase. It remains to be seen whether the same may be true for male office holders at the immediate local levels, but this is a point to which we return at the end of the paper. Before we focus on

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