Women in Local Governance

Women leaders’ contribution to human security has been recognized throughout the world. In many areas in Sub-Sahara Africa, women traditional leaders’ contribution could be traced to periods before colonial rule. In Ghana, for instance, women traditional leaders were responsible for settling disputes, maintaining law and order, performing military and religious functions in their communities. Even after independence, they still maintained active roles in the community, local, and grassroots development. Despite this recognition, research, on traditional structures and local governance are often criticized for their concentration on male traditional leaders with little recognition for their female counterparts. A few pieces of research that look at women traditional leaders often concentrate on issues such as gender, discrimination, and domestic violence without necessarily detailing their roles in local governance.It is against this background that my work proposes to bridge the knowledge gap by analysing women traditional leaders in improving human security at the local levels in Ghana. This will be done by (1) Tracing the historical perspectives that undertones women traditional leaderships before, during and after colonialism. (2) Exploring the relevance and contributions of women traditional leaders in Ghana. (3) Identifying the kind of interventions that support women traditional leaders in human security in Ghana and how to operationalize these interventions. (4) Exploring the most effective ways to encourage women traditional leaders in the political space of participation dominated by patriarchy. While using the feminist development theory, I will also be interested in using the seven pillars of human security developed by the UNDP in 1994 as analytical tools. My work will employ mainly ethnographic research methods and techniques over a period of 13 months in two districts in Ghana. It is the hope of this research to provide insights into what female traditional leaders bring on board the development agenda.