Human Rights Activism and the Silencing of Women

This article explores and examines the competing interests of several international and national stakeholders concerning a development program offered to marginalised women reported to be exploited by a cultural practice in the Volta Region of Ghana. The paper examines the discourses around the cultural practice, the way in which Ghana's rural women are represented in international, national and local discourses; and the stakeholder interest in representing the women, against the backdrop of Africa's imperialist history and the continents current fight against neo-colonialism. It is argued that the case study of the Trokosi Woman provides an important and relevant example of how women's empowerment cannot take place when white race privilege and class structures within Ghana remain un-interrogated.