Happy Delight Abajongawo was the first in her family to join the Ghana Armed Forces when she enlisted in the Navy 15 years ago. She would like to see more women follow her lead.
“We need more women in the military,” Petty Officer Abajongawo, a clerk, told ADF. “We should encourage females to join because it’s better to be in the military than to be at home not working. Being in the military, you are taking care of yourself and getting more opportunities.”
Ghana enlisted its first female member in 1958. Since then, women like Abajongawo have continued to don their country’s uniform in growing numbers.
The 16,000-person military is about 15% female. That number is significantly higher than the United Nations’ goal of 9% female participation for peacekeeping operations, but still behind the Ghanaian military’s own goal of having 25% female recruits by 2028 and eventually reaching a ratio that reflects the country’s nearly even gender split.
“Recruiting more women is to ensure the military reflects the society,” Rear Adm. Issah Yakubu, chief of naval staff for the Ghana Navy, told ADF. “Both genders bring different perspectives to the system. We want to give equal opportunities to all Ghanaians.”
The role of women was front and center in the Ghana Armed Forces when President Nana Akufo-Addo addressed the African Maritime Forces Summit and Naval Infantry Leadership Symposium Africa in Accra. The president’s honor guard was made up mostly of women.
Recruiters are particularly focused on increasing female enlistment in the military’s combat units, where they have been underrepresented.
Female recruits serve largely in administrative, medical and logistical roles, according to Group Capt. Theodora Agornyo, gender policy advisor to Ghana’s chief of defense staff. Agornyo has been part of the team speaking to high school students about joining the military.
“In conflict situations and post-conflict situations when solutions are being found, women need to have a voice,” Agornyo told GTV Ghana.
Increasing women’s roles in combat units increases their presence on peacekeeping missions while also putting more women on a path to leadership positions.
“We can and must do better because equality for women is progress for all,” Commodore Faustina Boakyewaa Anokye, the highest ranking female officer in the history of the Ghana Navy, said during a U.N. event. “Let us embrace equity and invest in women for accelerated growth.”