Violence against women still rampant in the northern region of Ghana

By Helena Selby

Why won’t men ever allow women to be? Why wont men allow women to enjoy the solitude and happiness they are entitled to in this world? Everyday campaign against violence against women is sent across the country but men who are the very culprits turn a deaf ear to it. Is it a crime to be a weaker vessel or to be at the service of the stronger ones? When will men begin to treat women fairly and stop their cowardice attitude towards women knowing very well that they can never defend themselves. If men claim to be really men and not only good for making babies, they should prove themselves men enough to take care of all the problems at home and not count on women for support. They should be men enough to train up children and not live it solely into the hands of the woman, they should be able to face their problem and not run for cover for women to cover them when they are in trouble.

The elimination of violence against women in Ghana has been one of the priorities of government. Government has come of with the Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) which is a unit in the police force and has tried its best to make some women in Ghana to know their rights. It is however unfortunate that, these rights and campaign against violence against women seem to have not reached the Northern part of the country yet as women there face the most abuse against women in Ghana. Women in the northern part of Ghana are faced with all kinds of abuses due to the people being unaware about right of women, they in a way having the wrong ideas of their religion and culture practices coupled with lack of formal education. Apart from women facing the FGM they as well go through the trauma of being forced into marriage, abused in marriage and in their performance of widowhood rites.

Widowhood rite and violence against women

It is surprising that a man will never be in trouble or be blamed when his wife dies, he is not taking through any humiliating tradition or forced to do anything against his will but for the woman it is the vice versa. Most at times majority of women are blamed for the death of their husbands both by society and their fellow women forgetting they being in a similar situation is inevitable. According to a research done by actionaid Ghana in some of the district of the northern part of Ghana when a woman is widowed she is locked up in a room for about between 4months and one year. She is taken trough the widowhood rite which includes smearing of clay on the woman’s body which is done right after the burial of the husband. After between 3 months and one year the woman is taken to riverside to be washed down sometimes with the husband’s brothers watching. If one survives the clay she is considered innocent of her husband’s death.

The demeaning aspect is that, a woman upon the death of a woman’s husband, she becomes part of the estate of the man so she is inherited by anyone who inherits her husband. When she refuses to be inherited she is sent off from her late husband’s compound without her children, sometimes too if she decides not to marry she is expected to stay single for the rest of her life no matter how young she is. What happens then to a woman like that? Her happiness is shattered and automatically loses her life as she is no longer living her own life but someone else’s.

Economic and violence against women

At last majority of men have in the northern part of Ghana have proven themselves as not men enough, a man is suppose to take care of all the finances of the homes and not boast of being good in bed only. A man is suppose to give respect to the woman and not force the women to engage in all forms of tedious work even in periods of pregnancy. Men there let their wives to do the tedious work on their various farms during their pregnancy period, regardless of their condition; they are being treated as slaves forgetting that, they put these women in such a fragile condition.

Unlike in the south whereby majority of men have an idea as to how men are suppose to behave, men from the northern side have no idea. In the south a man is aware of his obligation to give money to the woman to cater for the domestic aspect of the home including the preparation of meal, however in the north its does not happen that way. A further research of actionaid Ghana indicates that in the north the woman is given specific amount of grain at the end of the harvest season. It is her role as a woman to find ways and means to provide the soup that will be taken with the meal prepared from the grain given to her by the man. In each case the man care less about where she gets the money to support the home as she will be accused of stealing when she try to sell some of the grains to support the home.

In this regard she has to get into any kind of business to support the home. In some part of the northern region too the woman is given an amount of money from the husband as a gift during their marriage ceremony including the gift and money given to her by people who attended the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, it is expected of her to use the money she got to cater for the family all through the marriage or is sometimes given a piece of land to cultivate to provide food for the home. According to some of these women as they are struggling to put food on the table their husbands will be spending their money on booze and on women.

Force marriage and violence against women

Women are forced into marriage at a tender age sometimes to rescue the family from financial embarrassment. In the northern part of Ghana all that is expected of a man is to identify the woman he wants to be married to and the proposal will be accepted by the family of the woman without the consent of the woman. Upon the refusal of the woman to accept the marriage proposal, she is hold against her will to the man’s homes from that day onwards she becomes the legal asset of the man. As if these men practice monogamy marriage, they sometimes have about two wives but don’t end there, they continue marrying and making the lives of women miserable.

Polygamy is the commonest marriage practice practiced in the northern part of the country men go to the extent of marrying girls about four times their age despite the fact that they have about three wives already. Polygamy is gradually spreading the HIV/AIDS virus among women as the man involved in polygamy marriage has the probability of spreading the virus to about the four women he is married to. In a research by actionaid about a woman whose name has been with held, she was 13 when she was forced by his father to marry her sister’s husband brother, even though he was extremely older than her and considering her being under age, she was tired one day and sent forcibly to the man’s house. After several years of marriage with violence she was infected with the HIV/AIDS by her husband. She is now 24years with three kids’ however up to date she does not know if her children are also HIV positive. Obviously the future and dreams of this woman is shattered as she also has to go through the trauma is stigmatization by society.

Conclusion

Government should not concentrate only on the south in the elimination of violence against women but must intensify its work to the north as well so as to set free these women from these merciless men. Women must be educated well enough not to put their lives at risk all in the name of tradition. It is the responsibly of the women to bring justice to themselves as the men are not willing to stop their atrocities.