Eight major institutions in Ghana have no women serving on their boards, according to the Women in Ghana’s Boardrooms Report 2026 by Avance Media.
The institutions are Agricultural Development Bank, Prudential Bank, COCOBOD, Tema Oil Refinery, State Housing Company, Star Assurance, Ghana Reinsurance and Ghana Digital Centres.
The report identifies the absence of female representation as one of the notable findings from its assessment of 100 public and private institutions.
Among the institutions, Agricultural Development Bank has a nine-member board, while Prudential Bank has five members.
COCOBOD has an 11-member board, Tema Oil Refinery has 10, State Housing Company has nine, Star Assurance has six, Ghana Reinsurance has seven and Ghana Digital Centres has nine.
The findings also reveal significant reversals at some institutions.
Tema Oil Refinery, which had 43% female board representation in 2023, recorded no female representation in 2026.
State Housing Company also fell from 44% female representation in 2023 to zero in 2026, while Ghana Reinsurance declined from 43% to zero over the same period.
The report describes these as some of the most significant declines identified in its comparative analysis.
The findings come against a broader decline in female representation across the institutions studied. Overall female representation fell from 28% in 2023 to 25.9% in 2026, with women occupying 232 of 895 board positions.
The report notes, however, that the decline has not occurred across all institutions. Several organisations recorded increases in female representation, while nine organisations now have boards with at least 50% female representation.
The report says the findings demonstrate significant differences in the level of women’s participation in corporate governance across Ghana’s public and private institutions.
