POWA calls for end to gendered attacks on Lordina Mahama and Samira Bawumia

Dr Victoria Lakshmi Hamah, Founder of the Progressive Organisation for Women’s Advancement (POWA), has called for an end to personal attacks, insults and gendered mockery directed at First Lady Lordina Mahama and former Second Lady Samira Bawumia.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Dr Hamah said such attacks go beyond partisan political disagreements and contribute to a culture that undermines the dignity and political agency of women.

The statement, titled “When women divide, unequal power wins: POWA calls for an end to gendered attacks on Lordina Mahama and Samira Bawumia,” and copied to Modern Ghana News, said political differences between the two women should not become a basis for turning women against one another.

According to Dr Hamah, Lordina Mahama and Samira Bawumia may belong to different political traditions and hold different views, but their differences should not prevent them from identifying common issues affecting women, girls and vulnerable groups.

She said women could disagree politically without becoming enemies, stressing that “when women divide, unequal power systems benefit.”

Dr Hamah clarified that POWA's position was not intended to shield either woman from legitimate public scrutiny.

“Our concern is not to shield either woman from legitimate public scrutiny,” Dr Hamah said. “Women in political and public office must remain accountable for their words, actions, and policies. However, accountability is fundamentally different from humiliation, misogyny, and personal attacks.”

She said both women, having occupied prominent positions in Ghana's political leadership, had platforms that could be used to promote issues affecting women, girls and vulnerable communities.

Dr Hamah argued that such platforms should not become “instruments of pitting women against one another”, stressing the need for women to compete politically while still finding areas where they could cooperate.

She noted that women's political experiences are shaped by several factors, including gender, class, political affiliation and access to institutional power.

According to her, encouraging women to direct their political energy towards attacking one another could divert attention from structural challenges that continue to affect women's participation and influence in public life.

“When women are encouraged to expend their political energy fighting one another, attention can be diverted from the structural inequalities that continue to limit women's participation and influence,” she said.

Dr Hamah identified inadequate political representation, economic inequality, violence against women and girls, unequal access to opportunities, unpaid care responsibilities and barriers to decision-making as some of the challenges facing Ghanaian women.

She therefore urged women's rights organisations, women's groups, civil society organisations and the wider public to reject the normalisation of gendered insults and personal attacks against women in public life.

She also called on women to resist divisions that, in her view, have weakened their collective bargaining power over the years.

Dr Hamah stressed that solidarity does not require women to abandon their political affiliations or differences.

“Lordina Mahama need not agree with Samira Bawumia, and vice versa. Solidarity does not require political uniformity,” she said.

“It requires recognising that advancing women’s collective development is bigger than any political party,” Dr Hamah added.

She further called on men who support gender equality to reject gendered political attacks and urged political actors across the political divide to demonstrate that political competition can coexist with respect for women's dignity.

Dr Hamah also appealed to First Lady Lordina Mahama and former Second Lady Samira Bawumia to consider leading a broader conversation on women's political solidarity beyond partisan lines.

She said Ghana needed more women in decision-making positions and more women who could disagree politically without resorting to personal attacks.

“Ghana needs more women at the table. It needs women who can disagree without destroying one another. It needs women who can compete politically while still cooperating on issues that affect the lives of millions of women and girls,” Dr Hamah said.

She maintained that partisan politics should not prevent women from working together on issues that affect their lives, participation and advancement.

“Women’s power is people’s power,” Dr Hamah said, adding: “Let us not allow partisan politics to pit women against one another when there is so much work to be done together.”