“My feminism is better than yours!” the lack of intersectionality in feminist digital discourses in Ghana

ABSTRACT

The nomination of a strong female vice-presidential candidate—Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang—during the 2020 elections in Ghana divided some Ghanaian feminists. As they could not agree to collectively support her, they resorted to using discourses to de-legitimize the feminism of one another. This study used African feminism and Intersectionality as a framework and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis as a method to examine how feminists in Ghana expressed their views on Opoku-Agyemang’s nomination and what this meant to feminist organizing within an African context. I argue that the discourses surrounding Opoku-Agyemang’s nomination reified gender as a primary identity construct, ignoring difference and other intersecting identities that mediates feminists’ decision-making. The findings also revealed marginalization, exclusion, and oppression within the feminist movement in Ghana. In addition, it shed light on the different intersections that African feminists deal with in their daily activism work. By doing so, the study demonstrated the value of acknowledging nuance and intersections in feminist activists’ work.

KEYWORDS:

• African feminism
• Intersectionality
• feminist critical discourse analysis
• Ghana
• feminist organizing

Acknowledgements

I thank Professors Amanda Cote, Leslie Steeves, and Audrey Gadzekpo for reviewing earlier versions of this paper. I also appreciate the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions, comments, and feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See https://www.ghanaweb.com/person/Jane-Naana-Opoku-Agyemang-2917 for a biography of Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ivy M Fofie

Ivy M Fofie is a PhD Candidate at the School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon. Her research interests merge at the nexus of Cultural Studies, Global Media, Journalism and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her current research explores the history, political economy, and content of women working in local language media in Ghana.