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A 100-minute documentary aimed at using a historic film to challenge the misrepresentation and inform practice on gender activism in the country has been developed.
The documentary film titled ‘When Women Speak’ was directed by Aseye Tamakloe, a filmmaker, lecturer and a Ph.D. student of African Studies, and produced by Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Professor of African and Gender Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (UG) and Prof. Kate Skinner, University of Bristol, UK.
To bring media personnel abreast of issues raised in the documentary to help develop training and media resources out of it, ABANTU for Development, with funding from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Impact Acceleration Account, organised a half day training for 13 female journalists in Accra.
The documentary film traces the history of women’s mobilisations in Ghana since independence from colonial rule, including historic footage and interviews with some of the key women activists who lived and worked under different governments and regimes.
The film addresses a range of issues such as widowhood, intestate succession and legal aid for women, violence against women and girls, women in the media, affirmative action and the challenges facing women candidates for elected positions and movement building and communication between older and younger women activists.
The documentary film is available online, free to view, and resources have already been produced to support university and senior high school teachers who would like to use the film in a classroom environment.
It featured notable Ghanaian women activists including a former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Prof. Florence Dolphyn, Former Pro–Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana, Prof. Hilary Gbedemah, Prof. Emerita Takyiwa Manuh, Dr Rose Mensah–Kutin.
Others are Akua Kweyehiah, Elizabeth Ohene, Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata, Marian Tackie, Docas Coker Appiah, Vicky Wireko, Elizabeth Akpalu, Kate Bob Miller, Hannah Koranteng and Ekua Eshun
Dr Mensah-Kutin, Executive Director of ABANTU, in an introductory remark, said the documentary would serve as a resource for the current and future generations who are into gender activism.
