Charity Zormelo Fiawoo: Meet the First Woman to Graduate from the Gold Coast

Charity Zormelo Fiawoo: Meet the First Woman to Graduate from the Gold Coast

For many years, girl child education was fought for in Ghana and across many countries in the world.

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As time went by, the notion that the female's place is in the kitchen faded out and more and more girls got the chance to receive proper formal education.

Charity Zormelo Fiawoo, an intelligent Ghanaian woman was one of such ladies who got to experience education beyond the informal type.

Life history of the first woman to graduate in Gold Coast
Charity Zormelo Fiawoo in her graduation gown Photo credit: Ife!/Unsplash, Ghanaian Museum
Source: UGC

YEN.com.gh has therefore highlighted the historical background of Charity, the first woman to graduate from Gold Coast, now Ghana and also the first woman from an English-speaking West African country to acquire a bachelor's degree.

Growing up

Charity was born in Keta in the Volta Region of Ghana to Godfred Nyavor Zormelo and Patience Abolitsi Dzokotoe and had a younger sister called Victoria Zormelo-Gorleku.

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Academic path

In 1919, she received her elementary education from the African Methodist Episcopal Zion School and from there got the opportunity to be sponsored to study in the United States of America in 1926.

After completing her high school education in Borentown in NewJersey, Charity enrolled in Hampton Institute to study Home Economics.

Her intention was to pursue a Masters in Education in the US but due to World War II, she was unable to.

Her career journey

The first job Charity took up was as a teacher just after completing her elementary education. She did that until she got sponsorship from the local minister to further her education.

Charity also taught at Mmofraturo, a Wesleyan girls boarding school in the Ashanti Region of Ghana after completing her education abroad.

She also taught at a university in Angola called New African University College.

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Her death

Charity Zormelo Fiawoo got married in 1942 to a man called Ferdinand Kwasi Fiawoo with whom she toured southern Eweland with until her passing at the age of 41 on October 14, 1945.

Matilda J Clerk, first Ghanaian woman to receive scholarship in any field to study abroad

Earlier YEN.com.gh reported that Matilda Johanna Clerk is known in the history of Ghana to be the first woman in any field who received a scholarship based on academic merit to study abroad.

She also doubles as the second Ghanaian woman to have acquired a university degree, making her the fourth lady in West Africa to become a university graduate.

YEN.com.gh put together the historical background of Ghana's iconic woman in the health sector.

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Source: YEN.com.gh

Authors:
Linda Anderson avatar

Linda Anderson Linda is a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 2017 where she studied Chemical Engineering. She made an interesting career pivot from a Quality Control Officer to a Human Interest Editor in pursuit of doing what she loves and currently has close to 2 years experience in Journalism. Linda believes in kindness, respect, and empathy towards all and is firmly on board to help Yen.com.gh achieve all its set targets and goals.