REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN BRONG AHAFO REGION, GHANA

This paper explores the activities and problems of indigenous women's organisations in Ghana. The survey data that form the basis of the analysis were collected in 1998 from a sample of 66 women's organisations in the districts of Atebubu and Techiman of Brong Ahafo Region in Ghana. The results suggest that despite the debilitating impacts of patriarchy, poverty and illiteracy, the women in both districts have managed to use their grassroots organisations to improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their members in particular and their communities in general. Given the dearth of theoretical and empirical analyses on grassroots mobilisation of women in sub‐Saharan Africa, the results presented here are intended to stimulate further research and discussion on the subject.