Ghanaian women’s traditional dress: Exploring the symbolic meaning and utilization

Social change and globalization through colonization have had a profound impact on the choices of clothing and overall fashion taste among the Ghanaian population. The government of Ghana in a bid to promote the use of traditional local fabrics and garments initiated the National Friday Wear Programme in 2001. This initiative was to promote national pride and Ghanaian identity and to increase the use of traditional fabrics and garments. This research was to explore the symbolic meaning and use of the Ghanaian women’s traditional dress (slit and kaba). This article evaluates the effect of demographics on the symbolic meaning of traditional Ghanaian dress in a modern society and its implication on utilization. A cross-sectional survey with a quantitative approach was adopted to collect data from a sample of 500 women between the ages of 20 and 54 years, selected from two metropolitan centres (Accra and Takoradi) in Ghana. A self-administered questionnaire made up of closed and open-ended questions was used for this study. The findings revealed that the meanings attached to the traditional dress include cultural, ethnic and national identities, and highlights that age and education are associated factors in the representation of meaning in the use of the slit and kaba. This article fulfils the gap in literature on women’s traditional dress in Ghana at a time when the dress has seen increased usage which is an important indicator for the assessment of symbolic meaning and contributes to knowledge in clothing practices placing emphasis on the uses of dress within the social and cultural context.