
WOMEN CHIEF JUSTICES ACROSS AFRICA
Click below to read our background paper:
Her Ladyship Chief Justice: The Rise of Female Leadership in the Judiciary in Africa
Georgina Theodora Wood
Ghana

Chief Justice, 2007-2017
Georgina Wood was the first woman Chief Justice of Ghana, appointed in 2007. Georgina Wood was born in 1947 in Ghana. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Ghana, Legon in 1970, before going to law school at Ghana School of Law and graduating in 1972.
For her first professional role, Georgina Wood served as a Public Prosecutor and Deputy Superintendent in the Police Service for three years after she had trained with the Ghana Police Service in a post-graduate officers training course. Following this position, she was appointed as a Magistrate of the District Court in 1974. This role initiated her ascent in the judicial sector until she eventually reached the Supreme Court in Ghana. She was nominated as a candidate for Chief Justice in Ghana by the President in 2002 but declined the nomination for unknown reasons. By 2003, she was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.
For additional training, Georgina Wood became an advocate of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), received training in the US, and attended a learning program in the World Bank. Additionally, she assisted in the design of a court-connected Ghanaian ADR program and served as the Chairperson for the committee to draft manuals for the trials of ADR in the Commercial Court of Ghana.
In 2007, Lady Justice Wood received the Order of the Star of Ghana, Ghana’s highest National Award, for her public service in addition to receiving an honorary degree (LLD) from the University of Ghana in 2008. She left the Supreme Court of The Gambia in 2007 once she was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, and served in that position until her retirement in 2017.
Georgina Theodora Wood
Ghana

Chief Justice, 2007-2017
Georgina Wood was the first woman Chief Justice of Ghana, appointed in 2007. Georgina Wood was born in 1947 in Ghana. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Ghana, Legon in 1970, before going to law school at Ghana School of Law and graduating in 1972. For her first professional role, Georgina Wood served as a Public Prosecutor and Deputy Superintendent in the Police Service for three years after she had trained with the Ghana Police Service in a post-graduate officers training course. Following this position, she was appointed as a Magistrate of the District Court in 1974. This role initiated her ascent in the judicial sector until she eventually reached the Supreme Court in Ghana. She was nominated as a candidate for Chief Justice in Ghana by the President in 2002 but declined the nomination for unknown reasons. By 2003, she was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of The Gambia. For additional training, Georgina Wood became an advocate of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and received training in the US as well as a learning program in the World Bank. Additionally, she assisted in the design of a court-connected Ghanaian ADR program and served as the Chairperson for the committee to draft manuals for the trials of ADR in the Commercial Court of Ghana. In 2007, Lady Justice Wood received the Order of the Star of Ghana, Ghana’s highest National Award, for her public service in addition to receiving an honorary degree (LLD) from the University of Ghana in 2008. She left the Supreme Court of The Gambia in 2007 once she was appointed Chief Justice Wood of the Supreme Court of Ghana until her retirement in 2017.