In today’s world, women have shed their role of staying at home and taking care of the family – which has been something that was forced upon Indian women for the past centuries.
Here is a list of inspirational women who were the first Ghanaian women to make history in their chosen field of work:
1. Patricia Mawuli Nyekodzi – Ghana’s first commercial female pilot.
Mawuli became Ghana’s first female civilian pilot in 2009. She is also the first black African to be certified to build Rotax Aircraft Engines, as well as the first woman in West Africa to be certified to build and maintain Rotax engines.
2. Lt Cdr Faustina Boakyewaa Anokye Boakye – Ghana’s first female Ghanaian Naval Officer.
She was the first and only female to be deployed on a warship to an operational area in the West Africa sub-region. As a Quarterdeck Officer entering the Liberian harbour, her drills stunned the other West Africa Naval personnel of the Task Force present at the Freeport with disbelief and awe as they trooped to the Ghana flagship when it finally berthed, just to catch a glimpse of the first female Ghanaian Naval Officer.
3. Squadron Leader Selase Yayra Agbenyefia – Ghana’s first female military helicopter pilot.
Not only in Ghana but in the West Africa sub-region. She is currently the Flight Commander of the No. 3 Helicopter Squadron of the Ghana Air Force and she also avails herself in mentoring young ladies to achieve their life ambitions.
4. Charlotte Osei – first female Electoral Commissioner
5. Mrs. Susuana Alhassan – Ghana’s first minister of state.
6. Dr Susan De-Graft Johnson – first female doctor
She qualified as a doctor in 1949 and obtained her MB, Ch.B Degrees, the first Gold Coast female to attain that glory.
7. Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings – Ghana’s first woman to run for president.
8. Frema Osei-Opare – Ghana’s first female chief of staff
9. Mabel Dove Danquah – Ghana’s first woman elected to the Ghanaian parliament
Entering politics in the 1950s before Ghana’s independence, she became the first woman to be elected a member of any African legislative assembly.
10. Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo – Ghana’s first Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana.
She was the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 2009 to 2013. The Speaker’s position is the third most important in Ghana. She previously served as a Supreme Court Judge. She was also the first female Speaker in such a position in the West African sub-region.
11. Georgina Theodora Wood – Ghana’s first female Chief Justice.
On 1 June 2007, the Parliament of Ghana approved her nomination as the new Chief Justice of Ghana by consensus. As at June 2007, this made her the first woman in the history of Ghana to head the Judiciary and also made her at the time, the highest ranked female in Ghana’s political history; that rank was surpassed by the appointment of Justice Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo as Speaker of the 5th Parliament of Ghana’s 4th Republic in January 2009.
Image: University Of Ghana
12. Mrs. Elizabeth Mills-Robertson – Ghana’s first Inspector-General of Police
The acting Inspector-General of Police joined the Ghana Police Service in 1978. She was the acting Inspector General of Police of the Ghana Police Service from 28 January 2009 to 15 May 2009. She is the first and only female IGP of Ghana.
13. Ms Elizabeth Adjei – Ghana’s first female Director of Ghana Immigration Service.
14. Matilda Kissiwa-Sakyi – Ghana’s first female physiotherapist in the Ghana Premier League.
15. Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu – Ghana’s female Brigadier General
16. Kaya Forson – Ghana’s first female Olympic swimmer
17. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang – first Female Vice- Chancellor
The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast was the first female Vice-Chancellor of a state University in Ghana.
18. Prof. Mrs. Afua A.J. Hesse – first female pediatric surgeon
She was the first female to act as CEO for the Korle bu Teaching Hospital of the Hospital and also the first female head of the Department of Surgery of the University of Ghana Medical School.
19. Rebecca Locke – The first woman Managing Director of Ghana Commercial Bank.
20. Akua Asabea Ayisi – Ghana’s first female journalist.
She later became Justice Akua Asabea Ayisi – a former High Court Judge.
21. Mrs. Grace Bediako – the first woman Government Statistician
22. Mrs. Ayensu – Ghana’s first Dental Surgeon
OMGVoice
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