Bridget Mensah

Founder and Editor-in-Chief

Ghana

Bridget Mensah is a Ghanaian communications strategist, writer and editor with more than 10 years’ experience across journalism, media, corporate communications and gender-focused advocacy. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Gender Lens Africa.

112 stories

About the author

She is the founding Corporate Affairs Manager at Ghana Digital Centres Ltd., where she built the organisation’s communications function, and a communications consultant with Equality Now, writing and shaping media and editorial content on women’s rights, gender-based violence, child marriage and access to justice. She writes the weekly Her Space column for the Business and Financial Times and serves as General Secretary of the Network of Women in Broadcasting Ghana.

She holds a Master’s degree in Development Communication, a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and a Diploma in Communication Studies from the Ghana Institute of Journalism. At Gender Lens Africa she is building a newsroom that asks not only what happened, but whose experience, voice and interests are missing from the story.

Gender is not a beat we visit on occasion. It is the lens we report every story through.

An empty wooden chair in a quiet school corridor facing a closed headmaster’s office door, with a small trophy blurred in the background.

Obuasi SHTS: an award for the headmaster? Ghana must stop failing its girls

8 min read

Musings of a Feminist banner by Gender Lens Africa with portrait of author in blue top.

When did women’s freedom become everyone’s problem?

11 min read

Inflation is the speed, not the price: Why Ghanaians still feel the cost of living

15 min read

Seven Ghanaian women parliamentarians in suits and kente cloth walk down the steps outside the Parliament of Ghana building in Accra at sunset. The Ghana flag flies above the white parliament building.

Women in African politics: more seats, but men still control decisions

11 min read

Illustration of a young Ghanaian woman journalist in a gold blazer holding a notebook and magnifying glass, watching a large crowd holding up glowing phones toward a giant screen showing a sensational scandal-style graphic with a heart and comment bubble. A small scale in the foreground balances a likes icon against a blank document, symbolising public interest versus public curiosity in Ghana's media.

Part 4: We want the scandal. Who is feeding our appetite?

14 min read

Illustration of a Ghanaian woman in a teal dress and gold headwrap sitting alone on a studio chair under harsh spotlights, shielding her eyes with her hand. A large TV camera and microphone are pointed at her, while a blurred presenter gestures to a studio audience behind her and social media play buttons and comment bubbles float above. A red stage curtain frames the scene. The image symbolises how private trauma is turned into public spectacle on Ghanaian television.

Part 3: When women's pain becomes prime-time entertainment how Ghana's media turns private trauma, marital conflict and sexual violence into public spectacle

14 min read

Illustration split in two. On the left, a tired young Ghanaian female journalist in a teal blazer sits at a worn desk holding an empty wallet and a notebook, with a cracked phone and unpaid bills in front of her. On the right, a glamorous media business stage with spotlights, balloons, a trophy, stacks of money and executives celebrating at a sponsored event. The image symbolises the gap between struggling journalists and a booming media business in Ghana.

Part 2: The journalist is broke, the business is booming who profits from Ghana's media industry while the people producing the news struggle to survive?

14 min read

Illustration of a young Ghanaian female journalist in a teal blazer sitting at a newsroom desk with a notebook, looking up with concern as three large shadowy hands loom over her — one holding a telephone receiver, one holding an envelope of cash, and one holding a television remote. On her desk is a microphone taped shut with an X, crumpled newspaper pages, and a torn story marked with a red X. Three monitors glow behind her. The image symbolises phone calls, advertising money and political control pressuring Ghanaian newsrooms to kill stories.

Part 1: The fourth estate on sale? Who controls Ghana's newsrooms, why are stories being killed, and what happens when journalists censor themselves?

11 min read

Ghanaian woman in blue and gold African print dress and headwrap holds a young child in the doorway of a modest home in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. Floating around them are semi-transparent digital overlays from the Ghana National Household Registry showing Household ID GH-HR-0028471, female head of household, 4 members, location, poverty score 4.2 out of 10 marked as high vulnerability, verification at 72 percent, income security low, access to social protection pending, and a QR code. Multiple glowing question marks float around the data, symbolizing questions about data accuracy, fairness and accountability in social protection targeting.

Ghana’s household registry holds nearly three million households. But can the data deliver social protection fairly?

13 min read

A young African woman journalist with a press badge sits at a cluttered desk in a dim newsroom, looking concerned. On the desk is an empty open wallet, scattered low-denomination banknotes, and a document with large hand-drawn question marks symbolizing insecure contracts. A large glowing holographic robotic hand holds a microchip toward her, representing artificial intelligence. In the blurred background, a male colleague sits with white tape over his mouth, symbolizing self-censorship and silenced reporters. City skyline visible through window.

African journalism cannot afford an AI revolution built on insecure jobs and silenced reporters

13 min read

Ghanaian female journalist in navy blazer with African print collar and press ID badge holds a microphone in a newsroom. Behind her on a corkboard are documents labeled "CODE OF ETHICS," "SAFETY PROTOCOL - CONFIDENTIAL," and an illustration of scales of justice. In the blurred background, a silhouetted man in a suit stands with his back turned in front of large windows overlooking a government building. The image illustrates the tension between media self-regulation and protecting journalists who hold power to account.

Ghana's media cannot regulate itself on ethics alone. Who protects journalists when power is challenged?

17 min read

Four journalists dressed in black stand solemnly at dusk in front of a courthouse, holding black-and-white portraits of missing colleagues. In front of them, a folding chair draped with a yellow high-visibility vest marked PRESS sits empty, surrounded by lit candles and flowers, symbolizing a vigil for journalists killed, disappeared, or detained. The mood is somber and respectful.

Africa’s low death count hides a deeper crisis: who will end impunity for crimes against journalists?

7 min read

A Ghanaian woman lawyer in a dark suit and kente scarf stands confidently outside the High Court in Accra, holding a folder labeled "CSW70 Justice Pledges Accountability Review." The Ghana flag flies behind her and scales of justice are visible on the court building.

Did Ghana keep its CSW70 justice pledges? A scorecard nearly eight months on

13 min read

Three young Ghanaian women in colorful African print walking together confidently on a street in Accra, one carrying books.

83% of new HIV infections among Ghanaian youth are young women but prevention only reaches 3 regions

6 min read

Editorial illustration of two Ghanaian women traders at Makola Market in Accra discussing food packaging. One woman in a blue patterned dress and headwrap holds an open white Styrofoam container with Indomie noodles. The other woman holds brown paper-based takeaway boxes and banana leaves as alternatives. Behind them, market stalls display Banku and Tilapia with signs showing GH¢150 and GH¢200. A pile of discarded Styrofoam packs blocks a drain, highlighting plastic pollution. The scene captures the economic concerns of women vendors ahead of Ghana's Styrofoam ban.

Ghana’s Styrofoam ban: Are women traders ready for the January deadline?

9 min read

Editorial illustration of three generations of African women an elderly woman, a young woman and a young girl wearing orange-brown traditional cloth and headwraps, standing together and looking forward with strength and dignity. Broken chains lie shattered on the ground at their feet, not on their bodies. The background is parchment-textured with faint Adinkra symbols including Sankofa, outlines of African masks, drums, clay pots and old colonial maps of Africa, symbolizing heritage, memory, cultural restitution and the gendered legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. The bottom text reads "GENDER LENS AFRICA - REPARATORY JUSTICE - HERITAGE - MEMORY - RETURN - RESTORATION".

Beyond an apology: Why reparatory justice must also account for what slavery took from African women

7 min read

Musings of a feminist: who is protecting our young people, and what are we teaching women?

10 min read

Ghanaian health worker educating four young women about HIV prevention outdoors at a community clinic, with self-test kits and leaflets on the table, representing prevention funding gap affecting women and girls.

Ghana's HIV prevention funding gap is also a gender equality issue. Women and girls cannot afford to be an afterthought.

9 min read

A Ghanaian female pharmaceutical technician in a white lab coat and blue hair net inspects a bottle of antiretroviral medicine inside a modern pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Ghana. In the background, a Ghana flag hangs on the wall and medicine blister packs move along a production line. On the stainless steel table in front of her are boxes labeled HIV Test Kit, PrEP, and Condoms 12 Pack, with blister packs of tablets. The image represents Ghana's ambition to locally manufacture HIV medicines, diagnostics and prevention commodities to strengthen health security and access.

Ghana wants to make its own HIV medicines. But will local production make treatment more accessible?

8 min read

Empty social welfare office desk in Ghana with referral files and small children's shoes on floor, representing children waiting for child protection services.

Ghana plans 2,400 social service recruits. But who protects children while they wait?

9 min read

Aerial view of Dakar's Abdoulaye Wade Stadium lit in Senegal's green, yellow and red at sunset, with silhouettes of young African athletes on a track below and graphic overlays of scales, charts and coins symbolizing cost vs benefit

Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics: what Africa's first Olympic event means, and what it costs

5 min read

Six young athletes of the first Refugee Olympic Team for the Youth Olympic Games jumping joyfully in yellow tracksuits, holding signs that read "See You in Dakar" at their training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya.

Displaced but Not Defeated: The young refugees finding their place at Dakar 2026

8 min read

Split image. Left: A boardroom with 11 people, one Ghanaian woman in Kente scarf among ten men in suits around a conference table with a document labeled 'POWER AUDIT NPP 2024' and Ghana flag in corner, illustrating one woman in 11 national posts. Right: Three Ghanaian women in professional attire with Kente accents sit at same table holding folder labeled 'POWER AUDIT NDC 2024' in front of large Ghana flag, looking toward the other side, representing women waiting to be counted in incomplete NDC results.

NPP vs NDC: Which party gives women power, not just positions?

7 min read

An African woman wearing a blue and yellow patterned wrap carries a sleeping toddler on her back while stirring a pot of food over an outdoor stove. Around her are baskets of vegetables, a basin of laundry, and firewood. A translucent clock graphic overlays the scene with text reading "196 days vs 46 days - Average annual unpaid care work, Women vs Men in Africa." In the background, a rural homestead transitions into a colorful cobblestone street with fishing boats, representing Kenya and Cabo Verde.

Unpaid care work in Africa: who pays for what women do for free?

7 min read

Side-by-side diptych. Left: Nicki Minaj in a beige patterned jacket waves on stage at a political rally in Port Huron, Michigan, with Donald Trump standing behind her and a Make America Great Again banner visible. Right: Two women in a gallery view artworks referencing Sarah Baartman, including large collage portraits on the wall and a dark metal sculpture made of scrap parts depicting a figure from behind.

From Sarah Baartman to Nicki Minaj: who gets to look at a Black woman’s body?

8 min read

A young Ghanaian woman in a navy blazer and kente scarf stands at a campaign registration table in Ghana holding nomination papers. Behind her, campaign posters of male candidates cover a wall decorated with Ghana flags. On the table are stacks of papers, a calculator, and small piles of cash and coins, symbolizing the high cost of entering politics.

Ghanaian women do not just need a seat in politics. They need to afford one

6 min read

Sena Setordzi Dorvlo, newly elected Vice-Chairman of Ho Central NDC, sitting on a green couch holding a smartphone, wearing orange traditional outfit

Women in Ghana’s political parties: who actually holds the power?

7 min read

Dark background with outline of Ghana map. Text reads Gender Lens Africa POWER desk, NDC constituency elections 2026: who won, who fell. Icons at bottom show Men Chairmen vs Women Organisers

NDC constituency elections 2026: who won, who fell and what it means

5 min read

Infographic shows Ghana's Parliament seating chart with 276 seats. 40 seats in gold on the left represent women (14.5%), 236 seats in dark grey represent men (85.5%). A label highlights that 43 more women MPs are needed to reach the target of 83 women (30%) for gender equity. Text at bottom reads: Now 40/276 = 14.5% women, Current 236/276 = 85.5% men, Goal 83/276 = 30% women. Title: Ghana needs 43 more women MPs to reach 30%.

Ghana’s Parliament needs 43 more women MPs to meet the 30% affirmative action target

6 min read

Ghana celebrates the Black Maidens. What happens to these girls after the World Cup?

7 min read

When girls are put on trial: Obuasi, male entitlement and Africa’s fight over girls’ bodies

14 min read

Ghanaian woman footballer in Black Queens kit and Ghanaian man footballer in Black Stars kit stand back-to-back in a stadium holding football boots

How much does Ghana pay the Black Queens? No one outside the ministry can say

6 min read

A woman's hands hold a copy of the Maputo Protocol with African Union seal and Ghana flag pin

Ghana signed it in 2007. What has the Maputo Protocol delivered for women?

5 min read

Two Ghanaian women in a recording studio, one singing at a microphone, one writing lyrics in a notebook

What 21 hiplife tracks say about women's bodies

5 min read

A Ghanaian woman's hands hold a burgundy copy of Ghana's 1992 Constitution with scales of justice blurred in background

CSW70: Ghana already has the laws on justice for women, the test is whether women can use them

7 min read

A woman holds a smartphone showing a permission request to access contacts, with contact icons floating in the background

Your contacts didn't take that loan. Why should a loan app call them?

5 min read

ALT: Ghanaian woman looking at phone with digital safety icons overlay, Ghana flag in background, concept of online abuse and cybersecurity law.

Five forms of online abuse against women in Ghana and what the law says

5 min read

Illustration of empty school corridor with old complaint notices and Ghana-ribbon backpack waiting on bench.

Obuasi SHTS: who knew, who acted, and who must answer?

13 min read

Abstract illustration showing a report with data turning into question marks before reaching a breaking justice scale over Ghana's map, with silhouette of a woman.

After survivors report gender-based violence in Ghana, the data stops where justice should begin

9 min read

Ghanaian market trader in her late 40s holding a woven hand fan at her produce stall in Accra.

Perimenopause in Ghana: What women need to know about symptoms, treatment and work

18 min read

Menopause in Ghana: The health transition too many women navigate alone

12 min read

Musings of a feminist: who gets believed, who gets protected, who gets the microphone?

10 min read

Ghanaian junior high school girls in classroom with free sanitary pad programme packs for public schools

Period poverty in Africa needs more than pads, new research shows

7 min read

Ghana returns to the UN Human Rights Council. What does this mean for women and girls?

8 min read

When a university's reopening is delayed, who pays? The women behind KNUST's night market

6 min read

The sea is taking more than homes from Ketu South’s women

8 min read

Sexual offenders register: what it can and cannot do for Ghana

10 min read

Children's Rights Are Non-Negotiable: Inside The Gambia's Fight to Save Its FGM Ban - An Expert's Perspective

7 min read

We Must All Be Feminists: A Call to Action

6 min read

Women leaving Ghana's prisons need more than an open gate

10 min read

Breast cancer treatment carried an average economic cost of GH¢34,631 per patient in 2019. Who bears it?

4 min read

Ghana records about 5,000 breast cancer cases a year. Why are so many women diagnosed late?

6 min read

Trauma-aware reporting guide for Ghana

7 min read

Stop sharing abuse videos: What trauma-aware reporting looks like in Ghana

5 min read

Love, power, and politics: Unpacking spousal influence in Ghanaian leadership

5 min read

Lost in the System: Navigating Healthcare Bureaucracy in Ghana

2 min read

Eunice Tornyi, Fati Shaibu-Ali, Mercy Bee, Sweetie Aklika

The Freedom Our Media Industry Won't Discuss

11 min read

An illustrated young Ghanaian woman stands at a fork in a forest path, looking thoughtfully ahead. On the left path sits a bear silhouette in the woods, on the right path a lone male silhouette walks away — visualizing the viral question about who women feel safer with, and why.

The bear was right: an honest explainer on why feminism still matters

10 min read

This World Cup in 3 parts: borders, debts, and referees

9 min read

Five Ghanaian women in yellow Black Stars jerseys celebrate joyfully in Toronto's Sankofa Square at night in the rain. One mother carries a sleeping baby in a carrier, another plays a drum, another waves a small Ghanaian flag. They are clapping and singing jama after Ghana's win.

A letter to Roxane, jama in Toronto and the price of a hydration break

7 min read

What Korea's Silent Revolution Should Be Telling Ghana and Africa

6 min read

A Ghanaian woman sits alone on a bed, hands covering her face in distress, surrounded by shadowy figures pointing and whispering, with a fertility chart showing male and female factors equally on the wall behind depicting the psychological toll of infertility blame on women.

When women lie about who fathered their children

5 min read

A Ghanaian PR professional with a microphone builds a glowing bridge of stories and light, connecting a city skyline to Congolese women rebuilding with baskets of food and seedlings visualizing storytelling as a bridge across polarisation.

Building bridges & navigating polarisation: A PR professional's call to tell the stories that matter

7 min read

A tired Ghanaian professional mother in a blue suit and kente headwrap holds her sleeping baby and a laptop bag, standing in an office corridor between a large dusty Labour Act 651 book and a padlocked door labeled Workplace Childcare symbolizing the gap between Ghana's maternal protection laws and reality.

Ghana's working mothers betrayed behind fancy labour laws!

5 min read

Front entrance of Ga East Municipal Hospital in Kwabenya, Ghana, showing the covered walkway with cream and yellow pillars and a welcome sign that reads 'Welcome to Ga East Municipal Hospital'. Sunny daytime exterior shot.

Dear Sis, I Was Red Bed 3

6 min read

Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, Deputy Chief of Staff of Ghana and former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, smiling in a colorful Kente-inspired off-shoulder dress with a pink clutch.

She Is a Woman. That Does Not Make Her a Feminist.

5 min read

Rosalind Koramah Amoh, Ghana women's football, female sports journalists Ghana, Black Queens, Graphic Sports

The Woman Who Held the Microphone First

8 min read

Graphic marking UN Women's 15th anniversary.

Fifteen Years of Truth-Telling: Why UN Women Deserves Our Gratitude

6 min read

A pregnant woman lying on a clinic bed during antenatal check, midwife's hands holding her belly, illustrating Ghana's maternal health crisis where access does not guarantee survival.

Ghana's maternal mortality crisis: when access to care is not enough

8 min read

Joana Quaye and Richard Nii Armah Quaye (RNAQ) during their marriage.

Joana Quaye was listed as co-founder of her ex-husband's company. He went on television and said she contributed nothing.

11 min read

Six women contested the NPP’s national executive elections. One won.

5 min read

Hawa Koomson wins NPP National Women’s Organiser race

3 min read

About the author

Stories

Obuasi SHTS: an award for the headmaster? Ghana must stop failing its girls

When did women’s freedom become everyone’s problem?

Inflation is the speed, not the price: Why Ghanaians still feel the cost of living

Women in African politics: more seats, but men still control decisions

Part 4: We want the scandal. Who is feeding our appetite?

Part 3: When women's pain becomes prime-time entertainment how Ghana's media turns private trauma, marital conflict and sexual violence into public spectacle

Part 2: The journalist is broke, the business is booming who profits from Ghana's media industry while the people producing the news struggle to survive?

Part 1: The fourth estate on sale? Who controls Ghana's newsrooms, why are stories being killed, and what happens when journalists censor themselves?

Ghana’s household registry holds nearly three million households. But can the data deliver social protection fairly?

African journalism cannot afford an AI revolution built on insecure jobs and silenced reporters

Ghana's media cannot regulate itself on ethics alone. Who protects journalists when power is challenged?

Africa’s low death count hides a deeper crisis: who will end impunity for crimes against journalists?

Did Ghana keep its CSW70 justice pledges? A scorecard nearly eight months on

83% of new HIV infections among Ghanaian youth are young women but prevention only reaches 3 regions

Ghana’s Styrofoam ban: Are women traders ready for the January deadline?

Beyond an apology: Why reparatory justice must also account for what slavery took from African women

Musings of a feminist: who is protecting our young people, and what are we teaching women?

Ghana's HIV prevention funding gap is also a gender equality issue. Women and girls cannot afford to be an afterthought.

Ghana wants to make its own HIV medicines. But will local production make treatment more accessible?

Ghana plans 2,400 social service recruits. But who protects children while they wait?

Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics: what Africa's first Olympic event means, and what it costs

Displaced but Not Defeated: The young refugees finding their place at Dakar 2026

NPP vs NDC: Which party gives women power, not just positions?

Unpaid care work in Africa: who pays for what women do for free?

From Sarah Baartman to Nicki Minaj: who gets to look at a Black woman’s body?

Ghanaian women do not just need a seat in politics. They need to afford one

Women in Ghana’s political parties: who actually holds the power?

NDC constituency elections 2026: who won, who fell and what it means

Ghana’s Parliament needs 43 more women MPs to meet the 30% affirmative action target

Ghana celebrates the Black Maidens. What happens to these girls after the World Cup?

When girls are put on trial: Obuasi, male entitlement and Africa’s fight over girls’ bodies

How much does Ghana pay the Black Queens? No one outside the ministry can say

Ghana signed it in 2007. What has the Maputo Protocol delivered for women?

What 21 hiplife tracks say about women's bodies

CSW70: Ghana already has the laws on justice for women, the test is whether women can use them

Your contacts didn't take that loan. Why should a loan app call them?

Five forms of online abuse against women in Ghana and what the law says

Obuasi SHTS: who knew, who acted, and who must answer?

After survivors report gender-based violence in Ghana, the data stops where justice should begin

Perimenopause in Ghana: What women need to know about symptoms, treatment and work

Menopause in Ghana: The health transition too many women navigate alone

Musings of a feminist: who gets believed, who gets protected, who gets the microphone?

Period poverty in Africa needs more than pads, new research shows

Ghana returns to the UN Human Rights Council. What does this mean for women and girls?

When a university's reopening is delayed, who pays? The women behind KNUST's night market

The sea is taking more than homes from Ketu South’s women

Sexual offenders register: what it can and cannot do for Ghana

Children's Rights Are Non-Negotiable: Inside The Gambia's Fight to Save Its FGM Ban - An Expert's Perspective

We Must All Be Feminists: A Call to Action

Women leaving Ghana's prisons need more than an open gate

Breast cancer treatment carried an average economic cost of GH¢34,631 per patient in 2019. Who bears it?

Ghana records about 5,000 breast cancer cases a year. Why are so many women diagnosed late?

Trauma-aware reporting guide for Ghana

Stop sharing abuse videos: What trauma-aware reporting looks like in Ghana

Love, power, and politics: Unpacking spousal influence in Ghanaian leadership

Lost in the System: Navigating Healthcare Bureaucracy in Ghana

The Freedom Our Media Industry Won't Discuss

The bear was right: an honest explainer on why feminism still matters

This World Cup in 3 parts: borders, debts, and referees

A letter to Roxane, jama in Toronto and the price of a hydration break

What Korea's Silent Revolution Should Be Telling Ghana and Africa

When women lie about who fathered their children

Building bridges & navigating polarisation: A PR professional's call to tell the stories that matter

Ghana's working mothers betrayed behind fancy labour laws!

Dear Sis, I Was Red Bed 3

She Is a Woman. That Does Not Make Her a Feminist.

The Woman Who Held the Microphone First

Fifteen Years of Truth-Telling: Why UN Women Deserves Our Gratitude

Ghana's maternal mortality crisis: when access to care is not enough

Joana Quaye was listed as co-founder of her ex-husband's company. He went on television and said she contributed nothing.

Six women contested the NPP’s national executive elections. One won.

Hawa Koomson wins NPP National Women’s Organiser race

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