In Ghana, the constitution and chieftaincy act recognize both male and female traditional leaders as chiefs. However, when it comes to the decision making and representation at the various levels of the traditional hierarchy, queen mothers are rarely included. Platforms for traditional leaders such as the Houses of Chiefs are recognized by the State. But these platforms do not involve the female counterparts of chiefs, queen mothers. To add to exclusion, the nominees for consultative processes are selected from the platforms for the traditional leaders. 

As a result, the queen mothers are automatically excluded from the policy consultative process.  The situation is further perpetuated by the fact that the legal provisions (constitution, ministry of chieftaincy act) define traditional leaders to be only the chief.

In efforts to be more recognized and be involved in consultative process, the queen mothers have been working diligently with support from COLANDEF  to set up the Queen Mothers’ Platform- Ghana. This legally registered organization involves all the queen mothers in the sixteen regions of Ghana.

We are pleased to announce that this collaborative effort is yielding great results. On Tuesday, 22nd June 2021, there will be a national event where Queen Mothers’ Platform will meet with the Ministry of Gender. This event will provide a platform for national policy discussions on gender.

This is great news for two reasons: 

1. it indicates that this network of queen mothers is recognized at the national level.

2. It provides an opportunity for queen mothers’ involvement in policy discussions.

We look forward to sharing the results from this event and future collaboration with national level actors.