Ghana: Women in Decision-making — New Opportunities, Old Story

Abstract

Two decades of democratic change in Ghana, coupled with economic liberalization and intensified advocacy for women’s equality, had fueled optimism among those in journalism that there would be significant improvements in the status of women in the media industries. However, empirical evidence emerging from recent research suggests otherwise. Not only do men outnumber women by a 2:1 ratio in the nation’s newsrooms, in particular, but few women own media, or occupy top governance and management positions (Byerly 2011). The aim of this chapter is to assess the occupational status of women in the Ghanaian news media and examine whether or not transformations in the media landscape resulting from redemocratization have facilitated women’s rise in decision-making positions. The analysis draws on new data from the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (Global Report) (Byerly 2011), existing research on the career conditions of women in the news business and the antecedents of female media workers dating back to the colonial period. It argues that while there have been positive improvements in media-related education and jobs, the proverbial glass ceiling continues to perpetuate gross gender inequalities in decision-making positions in the Ghanaian media.