H.E. Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu is a Ghanian lawyer, versatile scholar, a gender and political activist with degrees in law from both the University of Ghana’s Law Faculty and the London School of Economics & Political Science.
Legal Background
She is an accomplished lawyer with over four decades of experience at the Ghanaian Bar. Her career has spanned the academia, both national and international public service, civil society and gender and politics. She holds a Masters in Law degree (LLM) , specializing in Intellectual Property Law, from the UK’s London School of Economics & Political Science(LSE).
Professional positions
She has held various positions in the Ghanaian Ministry of Justice from 1980, including the position of Copyright Administrator of Ghana, a position she held for several years and received multiple awards for the innovative and cutting edge work she pioneered in Intellectual Property Law not only in Ghana but across the African continent. As Chief State Attorney in the Attorney-General’s Department in charge of the Ministry’s International Law Division between 1989 -2003 she again spearheaded several innovative legal initiatives in the area of International Law.
International Law
H.E. Mrs. Betty Mould–Iddrisu was appointed Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2003 – an intergovernmental organization – comprising 54 member states based in London. In that connection, she managed the implementation of wide ranging international law mandates from the Commonwealth’s Heads of State, Law Ministers and Chief Justices and served as legal advisor on way complex issues of law.
Gender
She is also widely recognized in several English speaking African countries for her work in international law, human rights and gender. She chaired both the Ghanaian and African Regional groupings of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in the 1990’s and co-founded the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) in 1999, an organization she chaired until 2024 and is the Life Patron of AWLA – Ghana. She was in the vanguard of initiating Ghana’s first Legal Aid Offices in 1985 and spearheaded the empowerment of Ghanaian and African women through her grass roots programs for the sensitization of women and children in the area of access to justice, judicial reform and dispute resolution in several African countries. In this capacity she gained wide experience in civil society interaction and managed numerous projects on both national and she has received multiple awards and honors for her work in gender, law & activism.
Academia
She also lectured at the University of Ghana’s Law Faculty between 1990 – 2000. She has authored & co-authored & edited numerous papers & articles and acted as a resource person, chair and expert at multiple national, regional and global fora on a wide array of legal and human rights issues. She worked as a consultant for over 20 years in the areas of International law, Intellectual Property law (traditional knowledge and community rights) & multi-lateral trade issues for the UN, its specialized bodies and other international and regional based organizations.
Political Career
She was appointed as Ghana’s first female Attorney General and Minister for Justice in 2009 and also served as Minister of Education in 2011. In 2014 she was elected to one of the Vice Chairperson positions in the political party – National Democratic Congress (NDC), and in 2024 she was a member of the Presidential Strategic campaign team which delivered a historic victory for the NDC. She is widely regarded as one of Ghana’s top female politicians and an epitome of gender influence. She has unendingly spearheaded and collaborated with the CSO movement in engendering Ghana’s decision-making process by progressive law making and is lauded for exhibiting a high sense of statesmanship within and beyond Ghana. She is currently an appopinted memebr of the Council of State, she was appointed in February, 2025 by H.E John Dramani Mahama, the President of Ghana.