Today I met nationally renowned TV presenter and journalist Gifty Anti. In addition to being a TV presenter, she is at the forefront of the feminism movement in Ghana and her story is very inspirational in general and specifically in my pursuit of developmental advocacy. She is currently married to a Chief and with this position, she is seen as a role model and there are traditions that she must uphold. However, through research and inquisition and she has found that many of the current patriarchal rules and traditions are not consistent with the original traditions or were twisted. Through her position as a Chief’s wife and as renowned Gifty Anti, by example she empowers women to know and follow the correct traditions and bring issues facing women to the forefront, in addition to her personal en devours.
Her story is very important to me for two reasons. Firstly, she mentions some of the issues facing women, which is something I should look into for development. Secondly, her story is an example of someone who is effectively making change from the inside. As I would like to advocate for development in Africa and the Caribbean, a lot of what I would like to change are the policies and conditions of certain Intergovernmental organizations and intergovernmental financial institutions. However, I always imagined myself working on that change through an outside organization. For example, I would never consider working for the IMF due to their conditionalities and I don’t want any association. I feel that it would be counterproductive and hypocritical. My mother always says that I should not limit my options and that sometimes you need to make change from the inside. Gifty Aunty has shown that in some way, it might be possible.
Denkyem 
Hi Asha, what a wonderful opportunity to meet a strong and respected leader! In your review of her achievements, you state, “However, through research and inquisition and she has found that many of the current patriarchal rules and traditions are not consistent with the original traditions or were twisted.” Can you provide an example and what she is doing in her country to untwist what I am sure are long held traditions? Does she have support from the men in her country?
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One example is the tradition that wives of chiefs should walk and sit behind their husbands for public events. I do not remember the exact reasoning behind this but it was something to the effect of women being witches. This did not sit well with Gifty Anti and after questioning this karma she found out that this was not the original reason behind the tradition. Women walked behind their husbands because they were respected and were though to be carrying the next generation. Therefore, if any harm was to occur, they would prefer it to happen to the man because the woman could be carrying a child. Although it was customary, it was not mandatory. With this context, Gifty Anti began walking and sitting alongside her husband during events and other chiefs wives followed suit. During her career and to this day Gifty Anti has faced a lot of criticism; however, she has a lot of support from her husband who is a relatively progressive chief and as the main chief of their Clan, has the power to make certain changes.
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Thank you for the insight. I look forward to following your journey!
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Hi Asha – That is amazing that you were able to meet some that contributes to what you believe so highly in. Where you able to ask her any questions? If not, what would you have asked her if you could have?
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I was able to ask her a question. As I said in my blog post, a lot of the patriarchal traditions within her community are inconsistent with the original traditions as Akan culture is matrilineal. I remember in a previous discussion we had in class we had discussed the effects of colonialism karma one of which being that a patriarchal system was placed over top of a more matrilineal system which is still unreconciled today. I had asked her whether she believes that colonization is what propelled many of these traditions to be changed. After discussion, we came to the conclusion that conversation itself didn’t necessarily cause the traditions to be changed; however, the patriarchal system introduced by colonialism gave men the power manipulate traditions to their benefit and to maintain power. Colonization was more of an enabler than a cause.
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