Domestic Violence in Ghana : BROAD RECOGNITION

Photo: Wiki?me?dia Commons

By VICTORIA KARIM

May 31,?2011

Domes?tic vio?lence is a dif?fi?cult issue to tackle in Ghana because of the tra?di?tional cul?tural ideas that sur?round it.? In tra?di?tional Ghana?ian soci?ety, spousal abuse is con?sid?ered a pri?vate mat?ter to be kept within the fam?ily alone.? Some see such abuse as ?part of mar?tial pro?gres?sion,? and some men even regard beat?ing one?s own wife as a right that comes with mar?riage.? Of course, misog?y?nis?tic views of ?rights to your woman?s body? are not exclu?sive to mar?ried cou?ples; they can be found in any type of rela?tion?ship.? This view of hit?ting one?s wife also stems from the notion that the abuser is dis?ci?plin?ing the woman to cor?rect cur?rent behav?ior or to pre?vent future trans?gres?sions.? These ideas were fur?ther rein?forced by the terms of ? 42(g) of Ghana?s Crim?i?nal Code, 1960 (Act 29) (taken from the British colo?nial Crim?i?nal Code), which allowed the use of force with one?s spouse, on the basis that con?sent is given upon mar?riage.? This law was in place until 2007, when an exten?sive Domes?tic Vio?lence Act was passed, pro?hibit?ing vio?lence in domes?tic rela?tion?ships.? Nev?er?the?less, there is cur?rently not enough enforce?ment or fund?ing to carry out all pro?vi?sions of the law, and many women do not know the rights newly afforded to?them.

These con?di?tions make it dif?fi?cult for women to speak out against their abusers and to receive help.? As is the case with domes?tic abuse every?where, vic?tims often feel shame or humil?i?a?tion when con?fronting the hard?ships with which they have been faced.? How?ever, in Ghana, both the per?ceived nor?malcy of abuse and the indig?nity of address?ing it out?side the home are even more crip?pling.? On occa?sions when vic?tims might turn to a fam?ily mem?ber or reli?gious leader for guid?ance, the lat?ter might advise them to be patient or even to curb their bad behav?ior.? Par?ents, in par?tic?u?lar, can be hin?drances to women seek?ing ways out of abu?sive rela?tion?ships.? In Ghana, par?ents (who have high posi?tions of power over their chil?dren at any age) often dis?ap?prove of their chil?dren divorc?ing, so they may insist that their chil?dren stay in mar?riages, despite seri?ous abuse.? In one case of spousal abuse that occurred in Ghana about a year ago, a woman was pub?licly force-fed feces by her hus?band.? Sev?eral months later, he poured a pot of boil?ing soup over her head.? The woman was receiv?ing coun?sel?ing at an NGO, but refused to leave her hus?band or press charges because her par?ents dis?ap?proved of such action.

Before the pas?sage of the Domes?tic Vio?lence Act, the police often dis?missed domes?tic abuse cases due to their ?pri?vate? nature, and domes?tic abuse was not yet tech?ni?cally ille?gal.? Even today, police some?times ask for a bribe from the vic?tim when they are called in, and if they do not get money, they will drag out the case slowly.? Until recent years, the inabil?ity to get police to respond prop?erly to domes?tic vio?lence was the biggest imped?i?ment to women bring?ing their abusers to justice.

How?ever, after a study pub?lished by the Gen?der Stud?ies and Human Rights Doc?u?men?ta?tion Cen?tre in 1999 revealed alarm?ing rates of phys?i?cal, psy?cho?log?i?cal, and emo?tional abuse towards Ghana?ian women, domes?tic vio?lence was brought to the fore?front for the first time as a major prob?lem in Ghana.? Accord?ing to the study, 33% of the women inter?viewed had expe?ri?enced phys?i?cal vio?lence, 33% had expe?ri?enced sex?ual vio?lence, and 33% had been pre?vented from speak?ing to other men, among other find?ings.? In 2000, the Ghana Police Ser?vice estab?lished the Women?s and Juvenile?s Unit to solely deal with domes?tic abuse issues.? The unit was renamed Domes?tic Vio?lence Victim?s Sup?port Unit in 2002 for gen?der neu?tral?ity.? DOVVSU has since been an effec?tive resource for Ghana?ians under?go?ing abuse at home; the unit speeds up cases of domes?tic vio?lence for pro?cess?ing, and they are quick to respond to calls.? Addi?tion?ally, recent years have seen the emer?gence of a num?ber of NGOs in Ghana ded?i?cated to pro?vid?ing resources for abuse vic?tims.? The Ark Foun?da?tion has a shel?ter for vic?tim?ized women in Ghana?s East?ern Region, and it pro?vides skill-training work?shops for women to become finan?cially inde?pen?dent.? Women?s Ini?tia?tive for Self-Empowerment pro?vides coun?sel?ing ser?vices to vic?tims, and con?ducts sen?si?tiv?ity train?ing in police depart?ments and hos?pi?tals.? These orga?ni?za?tions are good out?lets for abused women to reach out to, but unfor?tu?nately are under?funded because they rely mostly on pri?vate dona?tions and can?not help nearly all the women who need their services.

Another prob?lem Ghana faces in address?ing domes?tic vio?lence issues is improper media cov?er?age.? Frus?trat?ingly, for many years the Ghana?ian media refrained from cov?er?ing domes?tic vioel?nce? pre?cisely because the prac?tice was so wide?spread; part?ner abuse sim?ply was not news. How?ever, with the grow?ing accep?tance of domes?tic vio?lence as a real issue in Ghana, the Ghana?ian media has been report?ing on more cases than ever before.? The media often reports indi?vid?ual inci?dents of abuse, and gen?er?ally does so in a very neg?a?tive light towards the per?pe?tra?tors.? While cov?er?age of domes?tic vio?lence cases is ben?e?fi?cial in increas?ing pop?u?lar recog?ni?tion of a prob?lem, many news?pa?pers pub?lish sto?ries with?out proper jour?nal?is?tic care.? News?pa?pers fre?quently reveal iden?ti?fy?ing details and infor?ma?tion about the per?sons and cases involved, so said per?sons are eas?ily rec?og?nized by any?one who knows them.? These sto?ries also include facts about the cases which the abused would not nor?mally reveal, because they are too embar?rass?ing or per?sonal to broad?cast to her entire com?mu?nity.? There?fore, the women whose sto?ries are shared through the media often shy away from con?tin?u?ing the case in order to avoid fur?ther atten?tion and gos?sip.? How?ever, more con?sid?er?a?tion is begin?ning to be paid to poor jour?nal?ism prac?tices; this past Decem?ber, there was a con?fer?ence held for Ghana?ian jour?nal?ists on the ?Ethics of Report?ing Domes?tic Vio?lence Issues.?

Ghana?ian atti?tudes towards abuse of women have cre?ated very dif?fi?cult cir?cum?stances for many women in their own homes.? How?ever, if the progress and work accom?plished over the last decade are any indi?ca?tion, domes?tic vio?lence is quickly becom?ing a prob?lem that Ghana?ian soci?ety can address.? There is now proper recog?ni?tion of the prob?lem, leg?is?la?tion passed, and sup?port sys?tems in place for abused women.? Nev?er?the?less, it will take addi?tional time for these pos?i?tive resources to become more wide-reaching and avail?able to all the women in Ghana who need it.

Vic?to?ria Karim is a is a junior at Ober?lin Col?lege.? She is a staff writer for Broad Recognition.

Source: http://www.broadrecognition.com/women-of-the-world/karim-in-ghana/domestic-violence-in-ghana/

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