Queen Mothers in Northern Ghana: A Cultural Misfit or an Evolving Tradition?

In recent years, northern Ghana has witnessed the emergence of women being installed as Queen Mothers in some communities. While this move is celebrated in some quarters as a step toward gender inclusiveness in traditional governance, it has sparked controversy and raised questions about cultural authenticity, historical consistency, and the direction of social transformation.

Traditionally, the chieftaincy systems of northern Ghana, especially among ethnic groups like the Dagaaba and Waala, have been firmly patriarchal. Leadership, succession, and governance structures were and still are largely male-dominated, with authority exercised by chiefs supported by councils of male elders. Women, though often powerful within family and spiritual circles, have not held formal public positions equivalent to the southern Ghanaian concept of queen mothers.

In southern Ghana, particularly among the Akan, the Queen Mother (ɔhemaa) is a well-established institution. She is integral to the process of selecting chiefs, adjudicates matters relating to women and children, and plays a pivotal moral and political role in community affairs. The office is as old as the chieftaincy itself. In contrast, no such structure exists in the north’s indigenous chieftaincy system.

So, what then accounts for the growing trend of installing queen mothers in the north? The answer lies in a combination of modern gender advocacy, development interventions, and external influence. Non-governmental organisations, women's rights activists, and sometimes governmental development agents have sought ways to include women in local governance and community leadership. In doing so, they have adopted and attempted to transplant the queen mother model from the south into the north, perhaps assuming it to be a universal cultural mechanism for women's leadership.

But this raises crucial concerns. While the intention to elevate women's voices is commendable, the method, importing an alien institution, can lead to cultural confusion and resistance, which are recipes for more disputes across the northern part which is already grappling with numerous chieftaincy conflicts. Once the practice is alien to the north, its assimilation and adoption must be meticulously approached to avoid adding our women to the many chronic chieftaincy disputes we already have.

For many traditionalists, the queen mother concept is not just foreign, but intrusive, challenging centuries-old governance customs and risking the erosion of indigenous authority systems. It can also cause legitimacy crises, as these newly enskinned queen mothers often operate without recognition or constitutional placement within traditional councils.

More importantly, the wholesale adoption of a foreign model, even with good intentions, risks undermining the internal processes through which cultural evolution naturally occurs. True transformation in traditional systems comes from within, through consensus, reinterpretation of values, and accommodation of changing needs, not through imposition.

This does not mean women should be excluded from traditional governance in the north. On the contrary, the north has long recognised women’s roles in communal leadership, albeit informally. Elderly women, mothers of chiefs, female spiritual leaders, and respected wives of elders have historically held sway in decision-making and dispute resolution. These are entry points for reform, not mere relics of the past.

A culturally sensitive approach would be to build on these existing structures, empowering women in roles that reflect both tradition and transformation. For example, codifying the role of “female elder,” “spiritual matron,” or “council mother” could achieve similar goals as queen motherhood, while remaining grounded in the local context.

In conclusion, while the call for gender inclusivity in traditional governance is justified and timely, it must be pursued with cultural intelligence. The north does not need to mimic the south to empower women. Rather, it must reimagine its own traditions to embrace women’s leadership in ways that preserve identity, respect heritage, and reflect the unique logic of northern Ghanaian societies. Any departure from this is only a recipe for disaster.

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