Ghana's LOUDLY Silent Femicide, Suicide & Rape As Gender Minister's Continue Their Silence; Culture Is Killing Women!

Friday, 5 September 2023

By: TB Obwoge

I can't write somedays, through tears as I continue to watch the news of new cases of suicide, femicide and rape in Ghana. Just a few days ago a young woman was found hanging in her university hostel, news claims were that she had completed suicide by hanging herself.

Another day a few months ago it was a woman and her child, she hung her child, then herself. Ghanians flooded the comments, angry with her, others saying she and the child were in poverty. Hunger, some say that was no reason, the comments are the worst. The "Christian" nation is hard on those who have mental health issues, as well as those who fall to the depths of taking their own lives.

Back in June of 2023, I wrote about 3 deaths in one day, 2 men murdered 2 women and 1 child.

In one day a 28-year old man murdered is lover and her child, a high schooler was stabbed to death by her boyfriend. All while the Ministry of Gender ignores all the public news of murdered women.

Less than 24-hours prior to these murders 2 women were lynched as they were accused of being witches. They didn’t mention the gender of those murdered but since they used the word witches and the Minister of Gender actually decided to speak out for once it’s telling that they were women.

There was no police statement as to any actions they were taking to locate those who lynched the women. There was no talk of arresting anyone in this case, this is Ghana.

Where a 12-year-old was raped by her sister’s husband, a chief slaughtered several animals but the police didn’t mention charging the man with rape. Ghana police issued no statement as several people tagged them on Facebook under the story.

Source: TB Obwoge

The head of Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is named, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, the deputy minister, Francisca Oteng Mensah and chief director Dr. Afisah Zakariah. Have been very silent, the news was almost daily, with the most recent death being the university student completing suicide.

While the men continue to rape, recently a house servant killed his employer. He murdered her for money, autopsy reports confirmed she was beaten upon her head and stomach.

On a Ghana local Ewe page, the cartoon above was posted, asking men what they'd do if they came home to find this: photo of woman on the phone, holding a bottle behind her back, but the baby is on the floor.

Men replied with the comments, most said they'd leave the woman and take the child. This man said he'd slap her. Is this an acceptable cultural practice, as I lived in Ghana people beat even their infants. Infants are under 1-year old and that's inhumane.

These are listed as some of the reasons n Africa as to why men beat their wives and the way they care for children is a common excuse for gender-based violence.

When I was living in Ghana, my ex Ernest "Fanta" Addo threatened my life once, he said "I will show you that I'm Ghanian!" He was very threatening, he wanted to control everything, though he had no money, he wanted to tell me how mine should be spent. Lying, verbal abuse and some physical abuse was common.

He lied and that seemed to be common and acceptable. A married man told me he lied to protect his wife's feelings, another young Ghana soldier, also an ex said the same thing. But questions about these lies should never end in violence.

Some of the women murdered in Ghana in 2023 had done these things, one filed for divorce, another wanted to be with another man, 2 others were accused of cheating, they all lost their lives.

Even in the United States Ghanian women have been victims of violence by the hands of their husbands, one man was found in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in a house with the body of a dead woman.

Is the Ghana ministers who head the Gender Ministry silent because violence against women is acceptable in Ghana and Africa?

About one in four Ghanaian women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner (UN Women, 2022).

The Ghana Police Service reported 16,000 cases of domestic violence in 2020 (GBCGhanaonline, 2022a; Ghanaian Times, 2022; B&FTonline, 2022) – almost certainly an under-estimate of the problem, as many cases of gender-based violence go unreported by victims who distrust the legal system or fear stigmatisation or retribution (Ogum Alangea et al., 2018; B&FTonline, 2022).

Source: Afrobarameter

These statistics in Ghana, come from the Ghana police, however where are they recording these records? Ghana doesn't have an electronic record system in most police stations. Unlike in some African countries that also don't have this, you can at least obtain a police record number for your report like in Kenya for an example.

You are given a DCI number, even if it's written on the most rudimentary slip of paper.

#1 In Ghana, women have confessed to being abused and never reporting the abuse.

#2 Police have refused in some police stations in Ghana to take women's reports of abuse in their homes, or just any abuse from a man. I've had women report this to me directly.

Ghanaian women face powerful obstacles to reporting violence, which stem from cultural beliefs that domestic violence is a private, family matter that should be addressed outside of the criminal justice system.

In a paper written about domestic violence in Ghana, many of these issues are discussed and yet the Ghana minister of gender does little to nothing to change them.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN GHANA: THE OPEN SECRET

This practice can deprive domestic violence victims of the opportunity to pursue state-sanctioned punishment for the crimes committed against them and risks placing victims in danger because most already have attempted to informally mediate their problems within families, churches, or traditional bodies and have come to the state because mediation has failed to end the violence. Moreover, civil law governing child maintenance fails to penalize men for acts of economic abuse, such as depriving a spouse of necessaries like food and shelter, and civil law regulating divorce limits women’s ability to leave abusive relationships.

Source: Law.GeorgetownEDU

A. CAUSES AND COMPLICATING FACTORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN GHANA:

TRADITIONAL BELIEFS, ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE, AND CUSTOMARY PRACTICES PERPETUATE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Many times people are living together but there is no peace in the relationship. Violence is intimidation of women. Sometimes men use violence to make you shut up and let them do whatever. Others want to kick you out so they can bring another in. The third kind have psychological issues: perceptions of male superiority and women’s inferiority. —Women’s Rights Advocate

Source: Law.GeorgetownEDU

Ernest Addo, used his sheer size and looks to intimidate. Though I'm overweight, larger than him in size. I'm stil no match for this powerful man. His fingers were so large that I marveled over them from time to time. Same for his feet and arms, I jokingly called him Mr. Big All Over!

He used harsh words, bullying and verbal insults quickly when he was angry or frustrated. He acted as an intercessor when his brothers would get into violent exachanges.

He claimed his culture in every aspect of his life, though he spoke tribalism, sexism, threats and sexism. Seeing as everyone in Ghana saw that women were hustling as hard or sometimes harder than the men.

Unlike their close neighbor Nigeria, Ghanian women weren't shamed for babies outside of marriage as much as a Nigerian woman would be. A much larger percentage (93%) of families in Nigeria are homes with both parents.

Records on 2 parent households in Ghana are poorly kept, they also change depending on which source. In 2018 only 53% of households in Ghana were 2 parent. Source.

Single motherhood in Ghana: analysis of trends and predictors using demographic and health survey data

Why is it being left to the role of NGO's in Ghana to take steps to make a change? When Ghana government needs to implement laws and enforce them.

In a report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2000, the agency noted that in interviews in Africa and Asia, “the right of a husband to beat or physically intimidate his wife” came out as “a deeply held conviction.” Even societies where women appear to enjoy better status “condone or at least tolerate a certain amount of violence against women.”

A study on domestic violence in Uganda by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that families justified forcing widows to be inherited by other males in the family with arguments that the family had “all contributed to the bride price” and that therefore the woman was “family property.” Once inherited, a widow lost her husband’s property, which went to the new husband. And if a woman sought separation or divorce, the dowry had to be reimbursed. Often, the study found, “a woman’s family is unable or unwilling” to refund the dowry, and her brothers may beat her to force her back to her husband or in-laws “because they don’t want to give back cows.”

Africa’s economic decline over the past three decades has left many women in worse conditions. Their plight is so severe, noted a study by the WHO and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), that many women see no option but to remain with husbands who routinely batter them. The women stay because men “serve as vital opportunities for financial and social security, or for satisfying material aspirations.”

Source UN.ORG

What do you think? It appears that culture is indeed killing women.

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights.

©️TB Obwoge 2023 All Rights Reserved