Kathleen M. Fallon provides a fine addition to the renewed interest in exploring women's role in contemporary African politics. In Democracy and the Rise of Women's Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa she considers how, now approaching twenty years since the near continent-wide political openings towards democratic reform, we should assess the gains women have made in countries like Ghana, where the process has been relatively stable and has not slid into authoritarian reversal. Fallon's analysis is historical; she is interested in both the pre-colonial and colonial structures and practices shaping the environment for women's entrance into formal politics. She offers an optimistic assessment of how African women have drawn on their unique history of gendered organisation and political practice at the local level to gradually penetrate a political system structured by colonial-era patriarchy and imported masculinist political institutions.
This book specifically addresses women's history and roles in formal politics in Ghana. The case is well situated with examples from other sub-Saharan nations undergoing democratic transition, but it does not cover either the breadth of African experience with these transitions, nor women's experience within them. Most notably absent is analysis of those transitions which have reversed, seriously faltered or have been interrupted by civil strife. Nonetheless Fallon is convincing in her emphasis on how much of sub-Saharan Africa can be understood collectively, distinct in its experiences of democratic transition from regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe, not least because of the long traditions of women with active political participation at the local level, which have shaped the culture of African women's activism. This is particularly well argued, with an excellent review of how colonialism undermined and distorted sources of women's power in the second chapter of the book.
A central strength of this work is the openness with which Fallon presents her research methods. Her field work in Ghana, carried out over three periods between 1997 and 2004, was thoughtfully planned and conducted, with care to building the trust of the women she interviewed over time, and attention to attitudinal changes corresponding to respondents' growing confidence as the women's movement gained significant ground. The frank approach Fallon takes in her appendix on methods is a fascinating read because of her inclusion of the environments and context of specific interviews. Throughout the book she often inserts herself into the narrative, for example when describing her interview with a self-described ‘big man’ from the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs about a stalled domestic violence bill, where her questions provoked a tirade about the ‘small girls’ leading women's organisations who were undermining Ghanaian cultural values. There is a generosity in Fallon's writing which pulls the reader into her personal experience of discovering how the women's movement is gaining momentum in Ghana, and her excitement and conviction that there is a resurgence of women's power underway.
Fallon argues that the main obstacles to women's further advancement are linked to masculinist political institutions imported from the West, whereas their central strengths stem from long-standing histories of women's political activism. This opens questions of how much we can discount local African patriarchal traditions – for example the ‘Ghanaian’ culture the big man she interviewed is striving to protect – or how clearly, in a globalised world, we can distinguish between African and Western cultures and institutions. Nonetheless, this slim volume is an engaging and thought-provoking read and a welcome contribution to our thinking about women's emerging political roles and opportunities.
