Violence against women: an increasing pandemic

By Helena Selby


It has always been of the notion that education and modernity have the capability of changing the perception of people about some uncivilized activities of the past, but that seems not to be the issue. It is the 21st Century, but violence against women has always been on the increase rather than decrease.

Decades have by, but yet still, despite the campaign on prevention of violence against women, people still turn deaf ears towards the issue of gender equality. Violence against women has been a problem which has been very hard to tackle by many governments, human rights organisations, and even the United Nations (UN).

The UN, seeing the increase of the plight of women on the issue of violence, thought it prudent to set aside November 25 as an international day for the elimination of violence against women. This date, as well is the date on which 16 days of activism against gender based violence is being observed worldwide. It has been almost 15 years since the Beijing conference on women, and 10 years since the UN’s formal recognition of November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, but still women face violations day in day out.

Violence against women

Violence has been a plague in the lives of every girl or woman. It has been a stumbling block, hindering their development in the world, even in the developed world where many laws are made to protect women. Women tend to be vulnerable to all kinds abuse at almost all stages of their, lives even before they are born. According to the UN estimate, through female infanticide, over 60 million girls are missing, due to the ‘son preference’. No day passes by in a community or a country without a woman being violated, either privately or publicly. Women face all kinds of violations some being physical, sexual, economic, emotional, and even verbal abuse.

Among these abuses, women tend to face mostly the trauma and psychological effect of sexual abuse. Violence against women, in terms of sexual abuse, is on the increase from time to time. Even in war zones, soldiers tend to rape women a lot, even before they are shot. Women, no matter the age group, are subjected to defilement and rape. Husbands subject their wives to marital rape, denying them a say in their sex lives. Violence against women can be associated to the way society is made up, that is the cultural beliefs of the society which makes the men more important.

This culture belief considers the woman’s role to be only in the kitchen and in child-bearing. They are denied the privilege of taking decisions for themselves, since their will is placed in the hands of their fathers and that of their husbands when they get married. Sometimes, the inability of women to take care of themselves economically, due to lack of education or the traditions of the community, makes them vulnerable to the dictatorship of men. As if women are born to be violated, some women overcome the above factors of violence, but yet still, in one way or the other, undergo abuse due to their feminine fragility.

Statistics of violence against women

In the United States, where culture is not is not of great concern, women are still abused, despite the numerous laws protecting their rights. According to the Anti-Violence Resource Guide, 17.6 % of women in the United States have survived a completed or attempted rape. 64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18, were victimised by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date. In Ghana, according to the Ghana National Study on Violence 1998, a survey of 2,069 women and girls, two out of three (67%) women who had experienced domestic violence, suffered injuries, and one in five of these injuries were severe - that is open wounds, broken bones and broken teeth. One in three (33%) women had been beaten, slapped or physically punished by a current or recent partner. This survey by the Ghana National Study has been long overdue, so probably the number and percentage of women violated has been on the increase, as reported incidences have been very frequent.

Violence against women in Ghana

In Ghana government has tried its best to protect women through the establishment of the Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service (DOVVSU) and the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act 2007, Act 732, but still, women fall victim to violence. Women still fall victim to their culprit men, who tend to have possess masculine strength. Apart from being underrated in the various aspects of their lives, they as well face numerous harassments and assaults in their relationships. Marriage to most people in society is a direct transfer of the woman’s will into the hands of the man. The woman has no say, even in sex, which as a result, always leads to marital rape, severe beatings, and sometimes spousal murder. Women are always scared of being divorced when they report any abuse of their partner to the police. Society has contributed to the violence against women, especially in the marital home.

In society a man beating his wife is considered a purely family affair, and that no third party needs to intrude. Women have been tamed psychologically, in a sense that one’s husband beating her up, is a sign of love and correction, so reporting him means one is stubborn and does not want to adhere to correction, but just wants to destroy the love the husband has for her.

Many pastors have also considered the bad attitude of husbands towards their wives, as a spell cast on the man, so the woman is advised to be fervent in prayers, and wait for God’s own appointed time. In this case, the woman reporting the case is considered a breach in the intervention of God in their marital homes.

What is the government doing?

Apart from the DOVVSU and the Domestic Act protecting women, Members of Parliament (MPs) of the country expressed their views and concerns on the way forward out of this pandemic during the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. According to these MPs, female teachers are mostly those who perpetuate violence against their fellow female pupils, and must make it a point to stop the barbaric act they sometimes put female pupils through. The plight of women was attributed to some weird religious beliefs and other influences from community leaders, who exhort women to stand by their husbands under all circumstances, while at the same time, fail to take a clear stand against wife battery and marital rape. It was noted that “widows and battered women remain very vulnerable, miserable, marginalised and often rejected by their families or in-laws. They remain traumatised in their various difficult conditions, or survive by chance.” If society really wants to help in the eradication of this issue, some cultural practices need to be looked into, and some blunders rectified.

Ghanaians were called upon to collaborate effectively in compelling the customary system to fully respect the rights of women and girls, as enshrined in the Constitution and laws of the land. They must help in the eradication of all forms of violence against women and girls, including marital rape, wife beating, child and other forced marriages, Trokosi, female genital mutilation (FGM) and humiliating widowhood rites.

The Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), as their part of helping combat the problem of violence against women, has decided to dedicate the 16 days of activism against gender based violence to women in the Western, Central, Volta and Greater Accra regions. It will provide education on the domestic violence act, and on-site mobile legal aid service for those who will need advice.

Conclusion

The UN’s formal recognition of November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, should be a reminder of the government’s promise to represent 40% women in government, and as well, a reminder to promote gender equality in the country. The positive reaction of the government and MPs towards the eradication of this plague, should not be a nine day wonder, but a continuous activity, since their involvement in the campaign serves as a stronghold to its eradication.