Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings passes on aged 76

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is a Ghanaian politician, women’s rights advocate, and former First Lady of Ghana. She alsoestablished the 31st December Women’s Movement, an organisation dedicated to promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality in Ghana.

Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings has been actively involved in various social and advocating for women’s rights, political causes, healthcare, and education.

She continues to be a prominent figure in Ghanaian politics and activism.

Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (born 17 November 1948) was a Ghanaian politician and the widow of former President Jerry Rawlings. She was First Lady of Ghana from 4 June 1979 to 24 September 1979 and from 31 December 1981 to 7 January 2001. In 2016, she became the first woman to run for President of Ghana. In 2018, she launched her book titled It Takes a Woman.

In the early 1980s, a few women approached her wanting to form a women’s organization but after a few meetings, little happened.

She said that after asking the women what they wanted to do as an organization, “It was clear that we had to start with things that would earn money to develop their communities in the social sector. Most of the women wanted things like water.”

The movement taught Ghanaian women how to generate income and save money for community projects.

It encouraged them to become part of the decision-making process in their villages, and explained policies of health and education.

It offered an adult literacy program to teach them to read and write—the majority of women could not do either.

Too early marriages among female children were discouraged and programs were offered on nutrition and immunization. In 1991, through the efforts of Nana Konadu, Ghana was the first nation to approve the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child.