The Enduring Legacy of Ghanaian Matriarchs: Women Who Forged Nations and Culture

The Silent Architects of Community: Ghana’s Ancient Matriarchs

In the vibrant tapestry of Ghana’s history, the narrative often highlights kings, warriors, and founding fathers. Yet, beneath these prominent figures lies a deeper, more ancient truth: the profound and enduring influence of women who were the original architects of community, culture, and governance. From the red earth of Kintampo to the bustling markets of Accra, women have consistently shaped the destiny of tribes and nations, their legacies woven into the very fabric of Ghanaian identity.

Archaeological discoveries in Kintampo reveal the earliest traces of settled life — pottery, beads, and the remains of domesticated plants. These artifacts bear witness to the foundational role of women who built the first hearths, ground grain, and cultivated abundance, laying the groundwork for leisure, craft, and the initial hierarchies that emerged. In these nascent villages, leadership flowed not from conquest but from continuity, embodied by those who nurtured, buried, and remembered.

The Matrilineal Principle: Root of Akan Society

The principle that the mother is the root became a cornerstone of many Ghanaian societies. Among the Bono of Bono-Manso, Ghana’s first Akan state, descent passed through the woman’s bloodline. The matrilineal clan, or abusua, served as both constitution and court. Its revered keeper was the ohemaa, the queen-mother, whose sacred duty was to name the heir and preserve the stool’s spiritual essence.

Ancient myths, such as that of Aberewa, “the Ancient Woman” who shaped humankind from clay, encode a deep social truth: creation, kinship, and power were conceived as female long before they were perceived as male. In Adanse, the very name meaning “those who build,” women were skilled builders and potters, whose kilns produced the forms that would evolve into Akan art and, later, symbols of authority. They were artisans, shrine-keepers, and the earliest recorders of law through woven cloth and intricate symbols.

Queens of Resilience: Leaders in Times of Turmoil

Ghana’s history is replete with examples of women stepping forward to lead during periods of immense change and conflict, demonstrating unwavering courage and strategic acumen.

• Abena Pokua (Abla Pokou) and the Baoulé Nation: Amid the civil wars that fractured the Akan world, Queen Mother Abena Pokua led her scattered kin westward. Faced with the impassable Komoé River, legend tells that she offered her only son to the waters, enabling her people’s passage. From this sacrifice, the Baoulé nation was born, its name a poignant reminder: “Ba ouli!” – “the child is dead!” Her act, whether myth or memory, solidified her archetype as a tribal mother who literally gave birth to a people.
• Naa Dode Akaabi I of Accra: At the dawn of the seventeenth century, Naa Dode Akaabi I ruled the Ga state of Accra, an extraordinary woman monarch in West Africa’s coastal polities. She reigned with absolute authority, enforcing laws that protected the vulnerable and punished the violent. Her leadership in battle and her eventual, tragic demise at the hands of those she disciplined too harshly, established a powerful precedent of female sovereignty that resonates in every Ga coronation today.
• Nana Afia Dokuaa of Akyem Abuakwa: In the nineteenth century, as the Asante empire dominated the forest, Nana Afia Dokuaa, niece of the former Okyenhene, ascended the paramount stool of Akyem Abuakwa. From 1817 to 1835, she commanded armies, resolved disputes, and fiercely preserved Akyem’s independence against formidable Asante pressure. Her reign proved that Akan matriliny was no mere formality; in crisis, it could indeed place a woman on the throne, inspiring the proverb: “When the mother sits, the town sits with her.”

Diplomacy, Spirituality, and Economic Powerhouses

Beyond the battlefield, women exercised influence in diplomacy, religious leadership, and economic affairs, shaping society from various angles.

• Akyaawa Yikwan: The First Female State Envoy: In 1831, in the aftermath of the Asante empire’s defeat at Katamanso, Akyaawa Yikwan, a royal woman and daughter of Asantehene Osei Kwadwo, was chosen to negotiate peace with the British. Having once been captured by Danish traders and then freed, her mission to reopen trade routes vital for the kingdom’s survival marked the first recorded instance of an African woman acting as an official state envoy on the Gold Coast. Her calm and firm voice ushered in a new form of power: diplomacy rooted in maternal legitimacy.
• Manye Makutu Sakite and the Dipo Rites: As Christianity and trade began to reshape Ghanaian society in the mid-nineteenth century, a new form of female authority emerged among the Krobo. The manye (queen-mothers) became custodians of morality and citizenship. Manye Makutu Sakite formalized the Dipo initiation rites, endowing them with civic weight, ensuring that every girl who passed through her court became a Krobo woman in both law and spirit.
• Nana Akua Oparebea: High Priestess of Akonedi: When colonial and missionary pressures eroded older shrines, Nana Akua Oparebea re-centered traditional spiritual power. As high priestess of the Akonedi Shrine at Larteh from the 1950s to the 1990s, she governed thousands of adherents, advised presidents, and represented traditional religion internationally, showcasing how ancient spiritual authority evolved into modern civic leadership.
• Naa Dedei Aryeetey: Financier of a Revolution: In the mid-twentieth century, as political power shifted towards commerce, women controlled the vital markets. Naa Dedei Aryeetey, a flour magnate and queen of Makola Market, became a key financier of Kwame Nkrumah’s independence movement. Her profits fueled party coffers, and her name became synonymous with Accra’s vibrancy. Her enduring portrait on Ghana’s 50 pesewa coin symbolizes her role in turning economic motherhood into political maternity.

Modern Guardians: The Unbroken Thread of Female Governance

The legacy of matriarchal power continues to thrive and adapt in contemporary Ghana, demonstrating an unbroken thread of female governance across various ethnic groups.

• Yaa Asantewaa: The Warrior Queen: Perhaps the most iconic symbol of female defiance is Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Ejisu. When Governor Hodgson demanded the Golden Stool in 1900, symbolizing Asante sovereignty, she famously rallied the Asante men with the declaration: “If you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women; we will fight.” She led the War of the Golden Stool, transforming defeat into an enduring legend and igniting the first nationalist memory of modern Ghana.
• The Gundo Naa of the North: Even in the patriarchal kingdoms of northern Ghana, the Gundo Naa, “Woman of the Skin,” serves as a vital counterweight to kingship. Tracing her descent to Gbewa’s first daughter, her lineage predates that of the kings. She presides over the women’s hierarchy, arbitrates disputes, installs female chiefs, and witnesses royal enthronements, proving that governance was never wholly male, even in male-dominated dynasties.
• Mamaga of the Ewe and Modern Queen Mothers: Among the Ewe, the Mamaga (“Great Mother”) serves alongside the Fiaga (“Chief”), upholding rituals and mediating disputes, embodying the Ewe ideal of Mawu-Lisa, the divine twin. Today, queen-mothers across Ghana, including the powerful Asantehemaa, are active in national associations, leading campaigns for girls’ education, environmental protection, and peacebuilding, extending their ancient maternal stewardship into modern civic leadership.

From the potters of Kintampo to the priestesses of Larteh, from Naa Dodei Akaabi to Yaa Asantewaa, Ghana’s story has always been a symphony of dual voices—kings and mothers, skins and wombs, swords and words. Some women ruled kingdoms; others ruled memory. Yet each, in her time, held the fragile order of society in the steady rhythm of her hands. “History is the sum of choices made in fear and in faith; in Ghana, when empires cracked or new nations stirred, it was often a woman who made the choice.” And so it remains—the tribes of Ghana were not merely ruled by kings; they were born of women.