Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was committed to women, girls’ rights

The late former First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has been described as a leader who left behind a legacy defined by her unwavering commitment to the rights of the country’s women and girls. A former vice president of Ghana, Dr Mahamdu Bawumia, who stated in a condolence message, also described her passage as […]

The late former First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has been described as a leader who left behind a legacy defined by her unwavering commitment to the rights of the country’s women and girls.

A former vice president of Ghana, Dr Mahamdu Bawumia, who stated in a condolence message, also described her passage as a loss to the cause of women empowerment in the country.

Most Ghanaians credit Agyeman-Rawlings as the most influential First Lady of Ghana who fought for the empowerment of women and girls. They recall her Women Movement of 1982, which brought many women into politics and business.

“My dream is to see the emancipation of women at every level of development so that they can contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country,” she stated during one of the programmes of her organisation.

The organisation went on to empower and mobilise women across the country by creating over 800 cay care schools for mothers to keep their children in a safe environment, and empowered them with trading, farming in beekeeping, vegetables, corn processing and other economic activities like pottery, corn processing, soap making, batik-making etc to support their families.

Agyeman-Rawlings also supported qualified teachers in rural areas in pre-school training of children.

Through her 31st December Women’s Movement, she promoted quality leadership in Africa and women inclusion. She delivered a powerful speech in this regard at the Fourth Women’s World Conference in Beijing in 1995.

Agyeman-Rawlings was a politician who married former President Jerry Rawlings and served as First Lady from June 1979 to September 1979 following a coup d’etat; again, from December 1981 to January 2001 as a civilian before becoming the first woman to run for the office in 2016, where she lost to former President Nana Akufo-Addo.

 Agyeman-Rawlings was born on November 17, 1948 in Cape Coast, Ghana, now Central Region, to the family of J.O.T Agyeman. She attended the Ghana International School and moved to the Achimota School, where she met her husband, Jerry John Rawlings. She further read Arts and Textiles at the University of Science and Technology and later earned a diploma in Interior Designing from the London College of Arts.

She further pursued her education over the next couple of decades, acquiring a diploma in Advanced Personnel Management from Ghana’s Management Development and Productivity Institute in 1979 and a certificate in Development from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in 1991, John Hopkins University, the Institute for Policy Studies in Baltimore, USA, among others.

Nana Konadu married Rawlings in 1977. They had their first child, Zanetor in 1978. Rawlings was at the time an air force officer. She gave the Yaa Asantewaa, Amina and Kimathi. Her husband died in November 2020.