About the Project

The When Women Speak film is an output of a research project titled An Archive of Activism: gender and public history in postcolonial Ghana. The project was designed and managed as a collaboration between Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo (Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana) and Dr Kate Skinner (Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham) between 2018 and 2022. It was funded by the British Academy Sustainable Development Programme (which is in turn supported by the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund). The project aims to:

Address gaps in our knowledge about gender activism and women in public life in Ghana since Independence from Britain, particularly under periods of single-party and military rule.
Identify the issues around which women mobilised, and their evolving strategies for engaging locally, nationally, and internationally, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s.
Use this knowledge to empower women’s organisations and challenge negative representations of African women and male-dominated accounts of nation-building.
Create resources for educators, researchers, civil society activists, and policymakers.
Inform public and policy debates on Affirmative Action and other gender concerns.

About the Film

The documentary film, When Women Speak, traces the stories of 16 Ghanaian women who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. It follows their experiences (as told in their own words) as Ghana passed through periods of military, single-party and multi-party rule. These women were prominent in public life – in the law, the media, academia, politics, and various governmental and non-governmental organisations for women. Their stories tell us about the issues around which women mobilised, and their modes of activism and advocacy at home and abroad, during the ‘lost decades’. They challenge the popular perception that gender activism is a foreign import, which came from ‘the West’ and found its way to Ghana with the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1992.

The film was directed by Aseye Tamakloe and shot entirely in Ghana with a Ghanaian crew. It has a runtime of approximately 100 minutes, and includes live interviews, historic footage of places and events in Ghana, some animation, and some great music.

The Women

Madam Ekua Ansah – Eshon

Founder, Advocates and Trainers for Children and Women’s Advancement and Rights (ATCWAR). Former Western Regional Director, National Council on Women and Development (NCWD). Member, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT).
Professor Florence Dolphyne

Vice Chairman and later Chairman of the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD). First female PhD in the humanities, first female professor, Head of Linguistics Department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Ghana.
Mrs Dorcas Coker – Appiah

Lawyer and women’s rights activist. Executive Director, Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre. Former member, CEDAW (Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Member, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), Domestic Violence Coalition etc.
Mrs Elizabeth Akpalu

Executive Director, Advocates for Gender Equity (AGE). Former Deputy Executive Secretary, National Council on Women and Development (NCWD). She has worked on various United Nations (UN) programmes in Liberia and Sierra Leone. She’s a member of Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT).
Hilary Gbedemah

Lawyer, educator, and gender activist. Ghana’s representative and chair of CEDAW (Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Member, LAWA (Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa), NETRIGHT, WILDAF, etc.
Professor Takyiwaa Manuh

Lawyer. Former Director, Social Development Policy Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Previously Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Board chair for ABANTU for Development and member of the steering committee of NETRIGHT.
Professor Akua Kuenyehia

Judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2015 and became first vice-president of the court. Former member of the UN’s CEDAW committee. Former Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana.
Madam Elizabeth Ohene

Former Minister of State under President John Kufuor. Former Editor of the Daily Graphic Newspaper. Former BBC correspondent. Founder, Talking Drums Magazine.
Professor Dzodzi Tsikata

Director, Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana. Former Director of CEGENSA (Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy), University of Ghana. Founding member, convenor, and member of steering committee, NETRIGHT.
Mrs Hannah Owusu – Koranteng

Environmental activist. Founder and Executive Director, Wacam. Member, New Democratic Movement.
Mrs Vicky Wireko – Andoh

Editor of the women’s page of the Daily Graphic in the mid 1970s. Columnist with Daily Graphic. Former Head of Corporate Relations, Unilever Ghana.
Dr Rose Mensah – Kutin

Director, ABANTU for Development, West Africa Region. Member, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT). Former journalist and columnist with the Daily Graphic
Mrs Nana Konadu Agyeman – Rawlings

Former First Lady of Ghana (June to September 1979; and December 1981 to January 2001). President of 31st December Women’s Movement. Founder and 2016 presidential candidate for the National Democratic Party (NDP).
Joyce Rosalind Aryee

Executive Director, Salt and Light Ministries. PNDC Minister for Information (1982 to 1985), Minister for Education (1985 to 1987), and Minister for Local Government (1987 to 1988). Leader of the Ghanaian delegation to the Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi in 1985.
Pognaa Catherine Bob – Milliar

Development queen for the Nandom traditional area. Executive Director, Upper West Rural Women Association. Former Upper West Regional Secretary, National Council on Women and Development (NCWD). Former National Director, Department of Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
Mrs Marian Tackie

Former head of administration, National Council on Women and Development (NCWD). Former Head, International Women and Gender Desk, Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC). Former Director of Administration and Gender Focal Person, Ministry of Health. Alternative Dispute Resolution practitioner.

Crew

Aseye Tamakloe Akosua Adomako-Ampofo Kate Skinner Akosua-Asamoabea Ampofo Kwame Crentsil Jovia Salifu Civil Society Partner Emmanuel Nwachukwu Charles Okyere-Afoakwah Dzidor Amorin Ebenezer Kwesi Bosomprah

Aseye Tamakloe – Director, Editor

Aseye Tamakloe is a filmmaker and lecturer at the National Film and Television Institute, Accra-Ghana.

As a freelance editor, her works include, award winning films like, “Perfect Picture”(2009) by Shirley Frimpong–Manso, “Chronicles of Odumkrom; The Headmaster”(2014) by Ernest Kofi Abbeyquaye. She was also assistant editor for the films “Who is Afraid of Ngugi” (2006) by Manthia Diawara and “Freetown” (2015) by Garret Barty.

She is also a freelance film festival programmer and curator. She is a co-programmer for Film Africa, London’s biggest celebration of African and African diaspora cinema presented by the Royal African Society and was the Festival Manager of the European Film Festival, Ghana. (EUFFGH). Her research areas include, African Cinema(s), popular culture, African Literature and Gender Studies.

Aseye Tamakloe is the founder of NDIVA WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL. A festival that aims to create artistic platforms for the presentation and preservation of work by, for and about women.

Akosua Adomako-Ampofo – Producer, Lead Researcher, Interviewer

Akosua Adomako Ampofo is Professor of African and Gender Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (UG). She describes herself as an activist scholar, her work being informed by her faith and a commitment to a social gospel. Her areas of interest include African Knowledge systems; Higher education; Race and Identity Politics; Masculinities; and Popular Culture, and at the heart of her work are questions of identity and power.

In 2005 she became the foundation Director of the University’s Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy and from 2010-2015 she was the Director of the Institute of African Studies. Adomako Ampofo is the founding vice-president and immediate past President of the African Studies Association of Africa; an honorary Professor at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Birmingham; and a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is Editor-in-Chief, Contemporary Journal of African Studies and Co-Editor, Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa (CIHA) blog. Her most recent book co-edited with Josephine Beoku-Betts is titled Producing Inclusive Feminist Knowledge: Positionalities and Discourses in the Global South (Bingley: Emerald Publishing 2021).

Adomako Ampofo serves on the boards of several organisations including the The Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria; “Africa Multiple” Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth of which she is Chairperson; Perivoli Africa Research Centre, University of Bristol; Institute for Humanities in Africa, HUMA, University of Cape Town. She is a member of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA); the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), and the Ghana Domestic Violence Coalition. Adomako Ampofo’s work has been variously recognized and in 2010 she was awarded the Feminist Activism Award by Sociologists for Women and Society (SWS).

She enjoys a good meal, with kindred spirits, accompanied by music for the soul, and is energised when planning productive disruptions, especially with young people.

Kate Skinner – Associate Professor, Lead Researcher

Kate Skinner was a Reader (Associate Professor) in the History of Africa at the University of Birmingham (UK) until February 2023. Her earliest research projects examined the connections between mass literacy, the expansion of formal education, print cultures, and grassroots political mobilisations in the Ghana-Togo borderlands during the twentieth century. Kate is now working on histories of gender activism, and she is particularly interested in the ways in which women in Ghana have campaigned for legal reform since the 1950s. Her recent projects have been funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy, and have entailed close collaboration with academic colleagues in Ghana (particularly Professor Wilson Yayoh at the University of Cape Coast, and Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana). Kate moved to the Department of History at the University of Bristol in February 2023.

Akosua-Asamoabea Ampofo – Camera “A” Operator, Animation Supervisor

Akosua-Asamoabea Ampofo is quite simply a storyteller.

With ten years of experience in visual storytelling, Akosua has skills in screenwriting, photography, television and filmmaking.

In 2017, Ampofo was awarded a prize for her short documentary, Living Legends, at the Trico-Film Festival in Philadelphia. The film was also a selection at the Ndiva Film Festival in Accra. In 2019 she crewed for the award winning documentary When Women Speak. She has also worked in advertising for two years where she planned and developed social media campaigns for brands like Danone and Twitter

Akosua has a BA in Film from Bryn Mawr College and is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing for Screen & Stage at Northwestern University .

Kwame Crentsil – Camera, Lighting, Sound Design

Kwame is a versatile Filmmaker, Film Music Composer and Sound Designer with a BFA in Television Production from the National Film and Television Institution (NAFTI), Accra, Ghana. As a film composer, Kwame Crentsil has composed and recorded film music on award winning feature length films such as Chronicles of Odumkrom: the headmaster (2015) by Ernest Abbeyqueye and Keteke (2017) by Peter Sedufia. Currently, Kwame is working on, OSAGYEFO STUDIOS: a sound post-production studio that focuses on film music, sound design and Foley recording for film in Ghana and West Africa.

Jovia Salifu – Research Assistant

Jovia studied for a PhD in African Studies at the University of Birmingham. His thesis explored the impact of microcredit on gender relations in matrilineal Offinso, Ghana. His broader interest is in gendered livelihoods, and in the ways in which marriage and kinship shape (and are shaped by) women’s access to and use of resources. Jovia worked on the Archive of Activism project as a postdoctoral research assistant. He has since moved on to a lectureship in African Studies at the University of Education (Winneba).

Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin – Civil Society Partner

Mensah-Kutin advises on project design, engagement and impact. She has been the Director of the West African Regional Office of ABANTU for Development since 2000.

ABANTU hosts the Women’s Manifesto Coalition, which drafted and mobilised support for the Women’s Manifesto for Ghana.

The Manifesto identifies widely shared concerns about the under-representation of women in politics, policy and decision-making at all levels, and in public life in general. The Manifesto is non-partisan, but takes positions on national issues. It provides a common platform for women seeking gender equality, a more equitable society, and sustainable national development.In 2018, Rose received a Martin Luther King Jr Award for Peace and Social Justice, in recognition of her work for gender equality. Rose holds a PhD in African Studies from the University of Birmingham, where she specialised on the gendered experience of rural electrification in Ghana.

Emmanuel Nwachukwu – Illustrator

Emmanuel Nwachukwu is a Visual designer and Illustrator with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Network Systems and nearly a decade of experience in the tech and advertising industries.

Fresh out of college, Emmanuel began his career at a tech startup working on branding and design for digital products. He eventually transitioned into advertising where he discovered a stylus and the intrigues of digital art and has never stopped illustrating since. His portfolio includes projects for leading national and global brands in real estate, food & beverages, banking, social media and even medicine.

As a self-taught visual designer and illustrator, Emmanuel believes in exploration and creative curiosity, an ethos that is expressed in his work which incorporates multiple visual styles and design languages. Emmanuel is driven by the desire to create meaning and cites his ability to tell impactful stories as his greatest motivation as a creative.

Emmanuel is currently leading brand identity design at Float, a Fintech based in the city of Accra but providing its services to businesses around the world.

When he’s not navigating a minefield of deadlines and deliverables, Emmanuel spends his time adding books to his reading list which he secretly knows he’ll never finish.

Charles Okyere-Afoakwah Jnr – Animator

Charles Okyere-Afoakwah Jnr is a Creative digital artist who is into film, animation, graphic design and illustration. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication Design from KNUST. Charles is currently working at Tibule, a full ad agency in Accra, Ghana as a Creative Lead. He also has experience in the advertising industry working in traditional and digital agencies namely SocialGhana and Ronin Africa.

He has been in the advertising industry for almost a decade with extensive experience working on global clients like Twitter, Danone, Malta Guinness to mention a few. In 2015 and 2016, he was a finalist for the International Reggae poster competition organized to raise funds for a music school in Jamaica. In 2020, he was awarded first prize for the design of Malta Guinness’ 30th anniversary pattern. He is a highly motivated creative who believes in using his abilities to help people and solve problems.

When Charles is not behind his Alienware laptop cooking up something for the world, he is either watching biopics, dancing, playing FIFA or meditating.

Dzidor Amorin – Film Score

Dzidzor Amorin is a pianist, producer, arranger, and composer currently studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He has performed in numerous venues such as weddings, restaurants, and birthday parties, and has scored films for composition contests. In 2018, he was a Finalist for the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest in the Youth Category. In 2019, Dzidzor was awarded the Presidential Scholarship, a full-ride scholarship given to seven distinguished students every year to study at Berklee. From jazz and electronic, to classical and orchestral, Dzidzor performs and composes music in a variety of styles and genres. Dzidzor is currently pursuing a dual degree in Film Scoring and Contemporary Writing and Production.

Ebenezer Kwesi Bosomprah – Project Assistant

Ebenezer Bosomprah is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. His research interests span children and youth studies, religion and humanitarianism, technology, and gender. He worked with the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy of the University of Ghana as a Research Assistant. Ebenezer served as a project assistant on the Archives of Activism Project coordinating the screening campaigns of the Documentary and other activities.

Ebenezer is also a student editor on the Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism (CIHA) blog.

Acknowledgements

The When Women Speak film was produced under the British Academy Sustainable Development Programme, which was supported by the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund. Additional contributions were made by the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, and the Institute for Global Innovation at the University of Birmingham. The training packages were produced under an Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Award from the University of Bristol, in collaboration with Abantu-for-Development.

About the Project

About the Film

The Women

Madam Ekua Ansah – Eshon

Professor Florence Dolphyne

Mrs Dorcas Coker – Appiah

Mrs Elizabeth Akpalu

Hilary Gbedemah

Professor Takyiwaa Manuh

Professor Akua Kuenyehia

Madam Elizabeth Ohene

Professor Dzodzi Tsikata

Mrs Hannah Owusu – Koranteng

Mrs Vicky Wireko – Andoh

Dr Rose Mensah – Kutin

Mrs Nana Konadu Agyeman – Rawlings

Joyce Rosalind Aryee

Pognaa Catherine Bob – Milliar

Mrs Marian Tackie