Discourses of women’s empowerment in Ghana

Abstract

This article examines the different ways women’s empowerment is understood and promoted in Ghana by government institutions, international development agencies, non-governmental organisations and women’s rights organisations. The authors consider how successive governments have incorporated women’s empowerment into policy, sometimes in response to domestic political priorities and at other times through the influence of international donors and development partners. These different actors have created a varied landscape of ideas and approaches to women’s rights, gender equality and empowerment. The article compares the major empowerment discourses operating within this landscape, asking what they emphasise, what they overlook and where their ideas converge or differ. Particular attention is given to the influence of donor organisations on Ghana’s gender and development policy environment. The analysis ultimately asks whether dominant approaches to empowerment correspond with the everyday realities, priorities and experiences of Ghanaian women, and how empowerment policies can contribute to improving women’s lives in ways that are meaningful to them.