She observed economic development tended to benefit women more and therefore hoped the queen mothers would lead in ensuring that women benefited from investments in the respective traditional areas to improve socio-economic lives of the people.

Mad. Owusu-Banahene made the call at the opening of the third annual conference and workshop for queen mothers at Abesim, near Sunyani.

Organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German political foundation in partnership with the National Queen Mothers’ Platform and the Bono Regional Queen Mothers’ Association, the two-day event aimed to explore the complex relations between traditional leaders and
the modern legal and political systems in Africa on the theme “Traditional Leaders in Contemporary African Governance: The Clash of Laws, Authorities and Responsibilities”.

It also provided a forum for discussion and debate on other related important issues and “to explore ways in which traditional leaders can be integrated into modern governance systems while still maintaining their cultural identities and authorities”.

The participants comprised paramount queen mothers from the Bono and Bono East Regions and two accredited representatives each from the remaining regions nationwide.

Mad. Owusu-Banahene noted the role of queen mothers in the country’s socio-political and cultural development could not be over-emphasised, saying in the past few years queen mothers had broken the frontiers in education, commerce and other socio-political arenas and become more connected.

She said queen mothers had begun reclaiming their traditional roles and modernising them, saying “your place within the traditional setup is a powerful tool for women’s empowerment and for bringing social and economic changes in your communities and the country at large’’.

Mad. Owusu-Banahene said the government on its part recognised the key roles queen mothers played in democratic governance and would therefore continue to engage them on several fronts to ensure that they had their rightful place.
She asserted the laws of Ghana restricted traditional leaders from engaging in active partisan politics, but chiefs and queen mothers had continued to play key roles in the governance architecture.

Mad. Owusu-Banahene entreated queen mothers notwithstanding the limitation, to take up the role of advocacy in women’s empowerment, involvement as well as participation in democratic governance while using their influence to garner support for women already in democratic and institutional governance and encouraged more women’s participation to spearhead the interests of women, children and the vulnerable in the society.

Professor Dr. Crista Rautenbach, Prof. of Law, North West University, South Africa, who a spoke on the topic ”The Role of Female Traditional Leaders in Emerging Democracy” said traditional
leadership was still a male-dominated field in post-apartheid South Africa.

She stated there was a growing recognition of the importance of female traditional leaders in promoting gender equality and women empowerment, but, Prof Rautenbach added there was still much work to be done to ensure that women were fully included in governance structures at all levels in the society.