Women This Week: Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang Elected as Ghana’s First Female Vice President

Ghanaians Celebrate Win for Gender-Inclusivity in Politics 

Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang—a member of the National Democratic Congress party (NDC)—has been elected as the next vice president of Ghana, making her the first woman to hold this position. A former minister of education and professor of literature, Opoku-Agyemang will join President John Dramani Mahama, who previously served as president from 2014 to 2017. Many scholars and activists view Opoku-Agyemang's election as a historical turning point for the gender-conservative country. According to a 2022 survey, 67 percent of Ghanaians support women’s political parity. “My nomination has many, many implications... It means all of us are on board. The victory is for all of us, but especially for our daughters, for our youth, for our women... I know this is a big responsibility... My job was to open the door, and it doesn’t end there. Actually, that is where the work begins.... Opoku-Agyemang said during her acceptance speech on Monday.  

Women in Kenya Protest for Government Action to End Femicide 

Women’s protests have gained traction in Kenya in the face of surging femicide rates, including the murder of more than one hundred women in the last three months alone. Some of the cases have gained considerable attention, including the death of social media influencer Scarlet Wahu. On Monday, thousands of women in Nairobi protested over a widely held view that the government is doing very little to counter surging femicide rates. In a series of demonstrations, activists have urged President William Ruto to declare femicide a national crisis and adopt policies to aid in prevention. Ruto has called the violence “a pressing and troubling issue,” and launched a campaign to provide resources for women. But activists are demanding more. In response, police teargassed demonstrators and detained several activists. Between August and October 2024, ninety-seven women were killed in Kenya, adding to the five hundred known murders committed from 2016-2024. “We have normalized violence to the point that we are numb,” said Alberta Wambua, a community activist. “We now need to teach love.” 

UN experts criticize prospective Taliban ban on women’s medical training:  

On Monday, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the Taliban’s recent decision to ban women from receiving formal medical training. Experts described the ban “as totally unjustifiable” in its almost total prohibition of women’s medical education. The United States government has also expressed concern about the ban’s implications for women’s rights and health in the country. “This directive, the latest in a series of efforts that jeopardize the rights and lives of Afghan women and girls, is an unjustifiable attack on women’s access to education and healthcare,” said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Afghanistan ranks among the world’s worst countries for women’s health. Experts remain concerned that a lack of trained women medical professionals will only exacerbate these conditions. “Maternal and pediatric healthcare in Afghanistan is already in crisis, with high levels of maternal and infant mortality. If implemented, the ban would compound this crisis with profound and long-lasting effects,” UN experts emphasized.