Promoting Sustainable Development in Communities: The Role of Female Traditional Leaders (Queen mothers)
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Date
2017-12
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Ghana Social Science Journal
Abstract
The traditional role of queen mothers, seeking the welfare of community
members, especially women and children, is widely recognized and
respected. However, their effort toward empowering women for
sustainable development of their communities is not given much
attention. If anything at all, the contributions made by their counterparts
(kings/chiefs) are given more attention. This paper explores the
contributions of queen mothers to sustainable development of their
communities, and as agents of change. It also highlights specific
challenges queen mothers encounter in the performance of their roles.
Twenty queen mothers in the Akyem Abuakwa District of Ghana were
selected for the study. Two focus group sessions of 10 participants in
each group were used, as the design. The queen mothers‘ contributions
focused on gender related issues in community development such as
children‘s education, women‘s work, community projects, women and
children‘s rights, leadership and empowerment issues. Findings indicated
that the activities of the queen mothers towards sustainable development
are limited by financial constraints, including oppression by some of
their counterparts (chiefs/kings). The paper concludes that there is a need
to involve queen mothers in the planning and implementation of
community development projects, and in any decision-making, that
affects the community as a whole. The paper recommends that queen
mothers should be physically and financially supported by stakeholders
including governmental bodies, NGOs, and benevolent organizations in
their community‘s sustainable development efforts and that, queen
mothers must be more assertive towards their work
Description
Ghana Social Science Journal, 14(2)
Keywords
queenmothers, sustainable development, roles, Akans, Ghana