Prominent key positions over the years were largely dominated by men. However, the status quo has been changing in recent years, as women continue to break barriers and take up leadership roles in these fields.
Women have gradually assumed major responsibilities, challenging stereotypes and breaking bias in many aspects of society.
Many women are also pushing hard for empowerment today, shattering limitations, and competing strongly with men who previously had the upper hand in certain positions.
This GhanaWeb article explores 10 women who were the first to occupy top positions in Ghana.
Georgina Theodora Wood
Georgina Theodora Wood is the first woman to hold the position of Chief Justice in Ghana.
The Ghanaian judge and former police prosecution officer was nominated as Chief Justice in May 2007. On June 1, 2007, Parliament approved her nomination by consensus.
Chief Justice Wood assumed office on June 15, 2007.
During her tenure, she swore in four presidents: President John Evans Atta Mills in January 2009; Vice President John Dramani Mahama following the death of Atta Mills on July 24, 2012; President-elect John Dramani Mahama, winner of the December 2012 general elections, on January 7, 2013; and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, winner of the December 2016 elections, on January 7, 2017.
She retired as Chief Justice in June 2017 and was succeeded by Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang
Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang was the first female Vice-Chancellor of a state university in Ghana, the University of Cape Coast, and currently serves as the first female Vice President of Ghana.
She assumed office as Vice-Chancellor on October 1, 2008, and served until 2012.
Ahead of the 2012 general elections, she moderated a debate with Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, after which she was appointed Minister of Education in 2013 by President John Dramani Mahama. She served until January 2017, when the Nana Akufo-Addo administration took office.
Aside from being the first female Vice-Chancellor, she made history again in 2024 when she was voted into office as Ghana’s first female Vice President.
Joyce Bamford-Addo
Joyce Bamford-Addo is the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and the first woman Speaker of Parliament.
She served in the judiciary as a Supreme Court Justice from 1991 to 2004 and was later appointed Speaker of Parliament from 2009 to 2013 under the tenure of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo was born on March 26, 1937, in Accra. She began her education at St Mary’s Boarding School and Ola Boarding School before attending Holy Child School in Cape Coast for her secondary education.
By the time she left public service, she had established herself as one of Ghana’s most accomplished jurists.
Her vast experience in law and administration earned her membership in several national and international organisations, including the Legal Aid Board, Judicial Council, Ghana Bar Association, FIDA International, and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association.
She also represented Ghana at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Brigadier-General Constance Edjeani-Afenu
The late Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu was the first female Brigadier-General of the Ghana Armed Forces.
She served in several United Nations peacekeeping missions and was deployed as Deputy Military Adviser to Ghana’s Permanent Mission in New York.
She made history as the first female Deputy Force Commander in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.
She rose through the ranks to become the first female Commanding Officer in the Ghana Armed Forces in 1999.
In 2013, she was appointed Deputy Military Adviser at Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the UN, where she was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General—the first woman to achieve that rank in the country’s Armed Forces.
She passed away on January 24, 2022.
Charlotte Osei
Charlotte Osei is the first female Chairperson of Ghana’s Electoral Commission since independence.
Before she was appointed EC Chairperson, she served as Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education from 2011 to 2015.
She was appointed EC Chairperson by President John Dramani Mahama in 2015 and served until her dismissal in June 2018.
In May 2019, she was appointed by the United Nations to serve on a team of international advisers for the management of Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential elections.
Dr Penelope Baabe Tettey Adinku
Dr Penelope Baabe Tettey Adinku is Ghana’s first female cardiothoracic surgeon.
She entered the field out of her love for children and was inspired by the work of Dr Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, who established the National Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the early 1990s.
The centre was created to provide specialised care for patients suffering from heart conditions.
Gloria Amon-Nikoi
Gloria Adwoa Amon-Nikoi was the first Ghanaian woman to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1979 under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) government.
She was married to Amon Nikoi, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana and Minister of Finance, and together they had three children.
Both she and her husband played key roles in Ghana’s independence struggle. Her husband later became Ghana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 1957.
Mabel Dove Danquah
Mabel Dove Danquah was a Gold Coast-born journalist, political activist, and creative writer.
In 1954, she became the first female member of Ghana’s Legislative Assembly and the first woman elected to the African Legislative Assembly.
She wrote for several newspapers, including the African Morning Post, Nigerian Daily Times, Accra Evening News, and Daily Graphic. In 1951, she became editor of the Accra Evening News, making her the second woman to edit a newspaper in Ghana, after Akua Asabea Ayisi.
She married JB Danquah, one of the Big Six, but the marriage ended in divorce in the mid-1940s. She passed away in 1984.
Prof Nana Aba Appiah Amfo
Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo is the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana and a Professor of Linguistics.
With nearly two and a half decades of service in academia and university administration, she was appointed Vice-Chancellor in October 2021 after serving briefly in an acting capacity.
She has previously served as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Founding Dean of the School of Languages, and Head of the Department of Linguistics.
She is also the first Ghanaian female Chair of the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Vice-Chair of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), Vice-Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), and Ambassador for Gender Equity and Social Inclusion for the Association of African Universities (AAU).
She is married to Frank Amfo and is a mother of three: Yoofi, Maame Araba, and Efua Benyiwa.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey is the first Ghanaian woman and first African woman to assume office as the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.
She succeeded Patricia Scotland, whose nine-year tenure ended in March 2025. Prior to this role, she served as Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration from January 2017 to January 2024 under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
She also served as a member of Ghana’s National Security Council and previously held positions as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Information, and Trade and Industry during the administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor.
From 2005 to 2021, she served four consecutive terms as Member of Parliament for the Weija and later Anyaa-Sowutuom constituencies.
Before entering politics, she led a successful marketing and communications firm and worked as a consultant in the tourism sector.
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