The status of women in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and their roles in
Ghanaian society has changed over the past few decades.
There has been a slow increase in the political participation of Ghanaian women throughout history.
Women are given equal rights under the
Constitution of Ghana
The Constitution of Ghana is the supreme law of the Republic of Ghana. It was approved on 28 April 1992 through a national referendum after 92% support. It defines the fundamental political principles, establishing the structure, procedures, pow ...
, yet disparities in education, employment, and health for women remain prevalent.
Additionally, women have much less access to resources than men in Ghana do.
Ghanaian women in rural and urban areas face slightly different challenges.
Throughout Ghana, female-headed households are increasing.
Multiple forms of
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often con ...
still exist in Ghana.
In recent years,
feminist organizations and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
groups have increased.
Efforts to bring about gender equality continue to grow in Ghana. The government of Ghana has signed on to numerous international goals and conventions to enhance women's rights in Ghana.
Politics
Although women are guaranteed
political participation
Citizen Participation or Public Participation in social science refers to different mechanisms for the public to express opinions—and ideally exert influence—regarding political, economic, management or other social decisions. Participato ...
rights under the 1992 Ghana Constitution, there is a lack of
female representation in government. There has never been a female
president in Ghana. In 2012, 19 women occupied seats in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
, while 246 men occupied the rest of the seats.
In 2017, the number of women elected to Parliament grew, and 37 women were elected.
However, Ghanaian women still make up only 13.5% of Parliament.
In the courts, the Chief Justice is
Sophia Akuffo, the second woman to be appointed to this position. The first woman to be appointed as Chief Justice was
Georgina Wood. Additionally, women only make up a small percentage of the total judges in high and
Supreme Courts.
In 2009, 23% of Supreme Court judges were women.
There has been a slow increase of women in Parliament since the adoption of the
multiparty system
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coal ...
in 1992.
Ghana has taken multiple steps to increase equality in the political sphere. For example, the government signed and ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW). There are many institutions in Ghana that work to advance
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
and welfare issues. Women's groups and activists in Ghana are demanding gender policies and programmes to improve the livelihood of women.
Additionally, the government has a ministry dedicated to women, and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection focuses on policy formation on issues that pertain specifically to women and children. Despite the efforts of
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
and political parties, female participation in politics in Ghana remains low.
The lack of political participation from women in Ghana can be attributed to longstanding
cultural norms
Social norms are shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into rules and laws. Social normative influences or soci ...
.
The traditional belief that women in Ghana should not have responsibilities outside the home contributes to the deficiency of women in politics.
Leadership is also a skill that is traditionally associated with boys and men. When women in Ghana take leadership positions, they can face
discrimination.
Family structure
Marriage
Polygyny
Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.
Incidence
Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any ...
refers to marriages in which men are permitted to have more than one wife at the same time. In
precolonial
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
times, polygyny was encouraged, especially for wealthy men. Polygamy was traditionally seen as a source of labor for men, as multiple wives allowed for more
unpaid labor
Unpaid labor or unpaid work is defined as labor or work that does not receive any direct remuneration. This is a form of non-market work which can fall into one of two categories: (1) unpaid work that is placed within the production boundary of ...
. In
patrilineal societies, dowry received from marrying off daughters was also a traditional means for fathers to accumulate additional wealth.
Today, the percentage of women in
polygynous marriages in
rural areas
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
(23.9%) is almost double that of women in
urban areas
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...
(12.4%).
The age group with the most women in polygynous marriages is 45–49, followed by the 15–19 age group and the 40–44 group.
Rates of polygynous marriages decrease as
education level
The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is a statistical framework for organizing information on education maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is a member of the in ...
and
wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
level increase.
In traditional societies, marriage under
customary law was often arranged or agreed upon by the fathers and other senior kinsmen of the prospective bride and bridegroom. This type of marriage served to link the two families/groups together in
social relationships
A social relation or also described as a social interaction or social experience is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more individuals ...
; hence, marriage within the
ethnic group and in the immediate
locality
Locality may refer to:
* Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England
* Locality (linguistics)
* Locality (settlement)
* Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...
was encouraged. The age at which marriage was arranged varied among ethnic groups, but men generally married women somewhat younger than they were. Some of the marriages were even arranged by the families long before the girl attained
puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a bo ...
. In these matters, family considerations outweighed personal ones – a situation that further reinforced the subservient position of the wife.
The alienation of women from the acquisition of wealth, even in
conjugal relationships, was strengthened by traditional living arrangements. Among
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
groups, such as the
Akan Akan may refer to:
People and languages
*Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
*Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people
*Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan
* Central Tano languages, a language group ...
, married women continued to reside at their
maternal
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...
homes. Meals prepared by the wife would be carried to the husband at his maternal house. In polygynous situations, visitation schedules would be arranged. The separate living patterns reinforced the idea that each spouse is subject to the authority of a different household head, and because spouses are always members of different lineages, each is ultimately subject to the authority of the senior men of his or her lineage. The wife, as an outsider in the husband's family, would not inherit any of his property, other than that granted to her by her husband as gifts in token appreciation of years of devotion. The children from this matrilineal marriage would be expected to inherit from their mother's family.
The
Dagomba people, Dagombas, on the other hand, inherit from their fathers. In these patrilineal societies where the domestic group includes the man, his wife or wives, their children, and perhaps several dependent relatives, the wife was brought into closer proximity to the husband and his
paternal
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
family. Her male children also assured her of more direct access to wealth accumulated in the marriage with her husband.
Today, marriage dynamics generally vary between rural and urban areas. Polygyny is more common in rural areas, and a married woman is usually supported by large groups of relatives as well as co-wives.
Urban Ghana has generally adopted a more "
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
" practice of marriage. The urban woman is held more responsible for choosing her own husband, as it is not based on lineage or her family's interests. Furthermore, the urban woman is seen as more of a partner than as a
minor, as she would be in many rural settings.
That being said, it can often be harder for the urban woman to address grievances or leave her husband because of that responsibility and lack of familial support that rural women often have.
Ghana’s child protection law, the Children’s Act, prohibits child marriage. Nevertheless, data from 2011 shows that 6% of girls nationwide were married before the age of 15.
Between 2002 and 2012, 7% of adolescent females (aged 15–19) were currently married.
Most of these women live in the
Volta,
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
, and
Northern regions, and they generally live in rural areas regardless of region.
Familial roles
Women in
premodern
The term premodern refers to the period in human history immediately preceding the modern era, as well as the conceptual framework in the humanities and social sciences relating to the artistic, literary and philosophical practices which preceded t ...
Ghanaian society were seen as bearers of children, farmers and retailers of produce. Within the traditional sphere, the childbearing ability of women was explained as the means by which lineage ancestors were allowed to be reborn. Barrenness was, therefore, considered the greatest misfortune. Given the male dominance in traditional society, some economic
anthropologists
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
have explained a female's ability to reproduce as the most important means by which women ensured social and economic security for themselves, especially if they bore male children.
[David Owusu-Ansah, David. "The Position of Women", in ]
A Country Study: Ghana
' (La Verle Berry, editor). Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Federal Research Division
The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress.
The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unit ...
(November 1994)
This article incorporates text from this source
which is in the public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.
Rates of female-headed households are on the rise in Ghana. The number of female-headed households who are either widowed or divorced has also risen over time.
Contrary to worldwide findings that female
poverty is correlated with higher rates of female-headed households, findings from the Ghana Living Standards Survey indicate that female-headed households may not actually experience higher poverty than male-headed households.
This is because reasons that households are headed by females differ across the country.
Marital status
Civil status, or marital status, are the distinct options that describe a person's relationship with a significant other. ''Married'', '' single'', ''divorced'', and ''widowed'' are examples of civil status.
''Civil status'' and ''marital stat ...
is a significant factor in understanding differences in poverty rates. For example, widows are the group of female-headed households that exhibit the highest rates of poverty.
Especially in polygynous cases, not all women live in the same household as their husband.
Therefore, female-headed households headed by married women are best-off in terms of poverty, followed by divorced females, and
widow
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died.
Terminology
The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...
ed females.
Social norms
Social norms are shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into rules and laws. Social normative influences or soci ...
and assigned roles for women is one of Ghana’s main issues. There are social standards that
women in Africa have to follow, depending on their culture and religion. There are other factors which compound a woman’s social norms. An example of this is, president's wives in Africa are required to be present at official functions, yet preferably sons. Along with there being huge probability of a husband to take another wife if they are not successful to provide a son.
A way to fix social norm is by making enrollment higher for women at schools due to higher knowledge of the topic, and higher positioning of women throughout the continent. Being able to change expectations put onto women and rules that cultures have, is difficult due to having to change the mindset of either a culture, a religion or a government.
Overall, women in female-headed households bear more household and market work than do men in male-headed households, mostly because usually the female head of household is the only adult who is of working age or ability. Men are usually able to distribute work with a female spouse in male-headed households, as most men in male-headed households are married.
Additionally, the amount of
domestic work
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
performed by women when living with or without a spouse does not vary, leading to the conclusion that males generally make little to no significant contribution to domestic work.
Further, women who are the heads of household generally own about 12 fewer
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
s of land than male heads of household. The disparity in land ownership increases as wealth increases.
Family size
In their ''Seven Roles of Women: Impact of Education, Migration, and Employment on Ghanaian Mother'' (International Labour Office, 1987),
Christine Oppong and
Katherine Abu recorded field interviews in Ghana that confirmed a traditional view of
procreation
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual org ...
. Citing figures from the Ghana fertility survey of 1983, the authors concluded that about 60 percent of women in the country preferred to have large families of five or more children. The largest number of children per woman was found in the rural areas where the traditional concept of family was strongest. Uneducated urban women also had large families.
On the average, urbanized, educated, and employed women had fewer children. On the whole, all the interviewed groups saw childbirth as an essential role for women in society, either for the benefits it bestows upon the mother or for the honour it brings to her family. The security that procreation provided was greater in the case of rural and uneducated women. By contrast, the number of children per mother declined for women with post-elementary education and outside employment; with guaranteed incomes and little time at their disposal in their combined roles as mothers and employees, the desire to procreate declined.
Education
The transition into the
modern world has been slow for women in Ghana. High rates of
female fertility
Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified Demography, demographicall ...
in Ghana in the 1980s exhibit, historically, that women's primary role was that of
child-bearing. Some parents were reluctant to send their daughters to school because their labour was needed in the home or on the farm. Resistance to female education also stems from the conviction that women would be supported by their husbands. In some circles, there was even the fear that a girl's marriage prospects diminished when she became educated.
Where girls went to school, most of them did not continue after receiving the basic education certification. Others did not even complete the elementary level of education, despite the Education Act of 1960 which expanded and required
elementary school. At numerous workshops organized by the
National Council on Women and Development (NCWD) between 1989 and 1990, the alarming drop-out rate among girls at the elementary school level caused great concern.
Given the drop-out rate among girls, the NCWD called upon the government to find ways to remedy the situation. The disparity between male and female education in Ghana was again reflected in the 1984 national census. Although the ratio of male to female registration in elementary schools was 55 to 45, the percentage of girls at the secondary-school level dropped considerably, and only about 17 percent of them were registered in the nation's universities in 1984. According to
(UNESCO) figures published in 1991, the percentage of the female population registered at various levels of the
nation's educational system in 1989 showed no improvement over those recorded in 1984.
Girls' access to education has shown improvement since then. Even though women have a higher population percentage, education rates are 10 percent higher for men.
During 2008–12, the national
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
for young women aged 15–24 was 83.2%, only slightly lower than that for males of the same age group (88.3%).
However, literacy rates fluctuate across the country and across socioeconomic statuses. By region, literacy rates for girls range from 44% to 81%.
Women living at the highest
socioeconomic status exhibit the highest literacy rates at 85%, while only 31% of women living in the poorest homes are literate.
Inequality in gender enrollment in school remains an issue in Ghana. Economic and cultural norms factor into the decision of whether a son or daughter will attend school if a family cannot afford to send multiple children.
There is a remaining cultural belief that women and girls main purpose is reproduction, therefore boys are sent to receive an education as it is believed they will be the breadwinner for the family.
A study don by Mahama & Nkegbe found that urban schools in Ghana averaged two boys for every one girl.
In both rural and urban areas, boys are preferred over girls for school enrollment.
Based on household populations, about 50% of men and only 29% of women have attained
secondary schooling or higher.
However, more girls are in school now and are continuing into secondary school. Over the timespan of 2008–2012, 4% more girls were enrolled in
preschool
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...
than boys.
Net enrollment and attendance ratios for primary school were both about the same for boys and girls, net enrollment standing at about 84% and net attendance at about 73%.
Enrollment in secondary school for girls was slightly lower than for boys (44.4% vs. 48.1%), but girls' attendance was higher by about the same difference (39.7% vs. 43.6%).
Public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...
education in Ghana has been found to be inequitable.
Women only "make up 34.9% of tertiary enrollment," and admissions tend to prefer students who come from wealthier backgrounds.
Employment
![Women in Ghana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Women_in_Ghana.jpg)
During pre-modern Ghanaian society, in rural areas of Ghana where non-commercial
agricultural production
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
was the main economic activity, women worked the land. Although women made up a large portion of
agricultural work, in 1996 it was reported that women only accounted for 26.1% of farm owners or managers. Coastal women also sold fish caught by men. Many of the financial benefits that accrued to these women went into upkeep of the household, while those of the man were reinvested in an enterprise that was often perceived as belonging to his extended family. This traditional division of wealth placed women in positions subordinate to men. The persistence of such values in traditional Ghanaian society may explain some of the resistance to
female education
Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girl ...
in the past.
[
For women of little or no education who lived in ]urban centre
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...
s, commerce was the most common form of economic activity in the 1980s. At urban market centres throughout the country, women from the rural areas brought their goods to trade. Other women specialized in buying agricultural produce at discounted prices at the rural farms and selling it to retailers in the city. These economic activities were crucial in sustaining the general urban population. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, however, urban market women, especially those who specialized in trading manufactured goods, gained reputations for manipulating market conditions and were accused of exacerbating the country's already difficult economic situation. With the introduction of the Economic Recovery Program in 1983 and the consequent successes reported throughout that decade, these accusations began to subside.[
Today, women make up 43.1% of economically active population in Ghana, the majority working in the informal sector and in food crop farming.] In crop farming, women the majority of women work in weeding
Weed control is a type of pest control, which attempts to stop or reduce growth of weeds, especially noxious weeds, with the aim of reducing their competition with desired flora and fauna including domesticated plants and livestock, and in natu ...
, planting
Sowing is the process of planting seeds. An area or object that has had seeds planted in it will be described as a sowed or sown area.
Plants which are usually sown
Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sown, grasses and leg ...
, and selling food crops. About 91% of women in the informal sector experience gender segregation
Sex segregation, sex separation, gender segregation or gender separation is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their biological sex. Sex segregation can refer simply to the physical and spatial separation by sex w ...
and typically work for low wages. Within the informal sector, women usually work in personal services. There are distinct differences in artisan apprenticeships offered to women and men, as well. Men are offered a much wider range of apprenticeships such as carpenters
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...
, masons, blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...
s, mechanics
Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...
, painters
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, repairers of electrical and electronic appliances, upholsters, metal workers, car sprayers, etc. In contrast, most female artisans are only involved in either hairdressing
A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be ref ...
or dressmaking
A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician.
Not ...
. Women generally experience a disparity in earnings, receiving a daily average of 6,280 cedis compared to 8,560 cedis received by men according to the Ghana Living Standards Survey.
Women are flourishing in teaching professions. Early 1990s' data showed that about 19 percent of the instructional staff at the nation's three universities in 1990 was female. Of the teaching staff in specialized and diploma-granting institutions, 20 percent was female; elsewhere, corresponding figures were 21 percent at the secondary-school level; 23 percent at the middle-school level, and as high as 42 percent at the primary-school level. Women also dominated the secretarial
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a wh ...
and nursing
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
professions in Ghana. Although women have been assigned secretarial roles, some women are bridging the gap by learning how to code and take on men's role such as painters, electrician
An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...
s etc. This is changing the discourse on the role of women in the workplace and the nature of their jobs has been evolving with time. When women were employed in the same line of work as men, they were paid equal wages, and were granted maternity leave with pay.[ However, women in research professions report experiencing more difficulties than men in the same field, which can be linked to restricted professional networks for women because of lingering traditional familial roles.]
Health
Reproduction related cases are the cause of many health problems
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ar ...
for women in Ghana. According to UNICEF, the mortality rate for girls under five years old in 2012 was 66 per 1,000 girls. This number was lower than that for boys, which was 77 per 1,000. Abortion is the highest contributor to maternal mortality
Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pre ...
in Ghana. There is a cultural stigma around abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
due to cultural and traditional values. Safe abortion services are not easily accessible for many women in Ghana.
HIV/AIDS
Compared to other Sub-Saharan
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...
countries, Ghana has a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
. However, out of an estimated 240,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana, about half are women. During the span of 2008–2012, 36.8% of young women aged 15–24 and 34.5% of adolescent girls exhibited comprehensive knowledge about the prevention of HIV/AIDS, which is defined by UNICEF as being able to "correctly identify the two major ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV (using condoms and limiting sex to one faithful, uninfected partner), who reject the two most common local misconceptions about HIV transmission, and who know that a healthy-looking person can have HIV." Women and girls generally have less knowledge about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The Ministry of Health and the Ghana AIDS Commission
Ghana AIDS Commission is a supra-ministerial and multi-sectorial body in Ghana. It was established by Act 2016, Act 938 of the Parliament of Ghana. It consists of 47 members including the President and the Vice President, 15 Ministers of State and ...
have helped to create policy to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Studies have also found that religious education is beneficial in HIV prevention
HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may ...
and helped reduce stigma in adolescents
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majo ...
.
Maternal health
The birthrate
The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...
for adolescents (aged 15–19) in Ghana is 60 per 1000 women. The rates between rural and urban areas of the country, however, vary greatly (89 and 33 per 1000 women, respectively). For urban women, 2.3% of women have a child before age 15 and 16.7% of women have a child before the age 18. For rural women, 4% have a child before age 15 and 25% have a child before age 18. There have been organizations that have helped with the issue of maternal health, such as the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
and the Accelerated Child Survival Development Program. Both fought against abortions, and reduced about 50 percent of the child and maternal mortality rates.
Among women 15–49 years old, 34.3% are using contraception
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
. Contraception use is positively correlated with education level. Sometimes, women want to either postpone the next birth or stop having children completely, but don’t have access to contraception. According to MICS, this is called unmet need. Prevalence of unmet need is highest for women aged 15–19 (61.6%). Highest rates of met need for contraception are found in the richest women, women with secondary education or higher, and women ages 20–39.
In 2011, the Government of Ghana announced that it had eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus
Neonatal tetanus (''trismus nascentium'') is a form of generalised tetanus that occurs in newborns. Infants who have not acquired passive immunity from an immunized mother are at risk. It usually occurs through infection of the unhealed umbilical ...
. This was an achievement on the route to meeting one of the Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...
(MDG), which is to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters.
Pregnant women are more vulnerable to malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
due to depression of the immune system
The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splint ...
. Malaria may lead to malaria-induced anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, t ...
and may also cause low birth weight
Low birth weight (LBW) is defined by the World Health Organization as a birth weight of an
infant of or less, regardless of gestational age. Infants born with LBW have added health risks which require close management, often in a neonatal inten ...
s. Pregnant women in Ghana are encouraged to sleep under a mosquito net to avoid such infections from mosquito bites. Nationally, 33% of pregnant women slept under mosquito nets in 2011, which fell short of the goal of 65% by 2011. More than twice as many pregnant women sleep under mosquito nets in rural areas than in urban areas, and the same is true of uneducated women in comparison to women who had completed secondary education or higher. The correlation between these two rates may be due to more educated women living in urban areas, and more uneducated women living in rural areas. In accordance, the poorest women in Ghana show the highest rates of sleeping under mosquito nets, while the richest show the lowest rates.
Abortion
A law passed in 1985 allows for legal abortion in Ghana under certain conditions. These conditions include rape, incest, or risk the mental or physical health of the woman. However, unsafe abortion remains prevalent, and abortion remains the highest contributor to maternal mortality. A study done by Sundaram et alt. found that Ghanaian women who seek unsafe abortions tend to be younger and poorer. Cultural stigma surrounding abortion contributes to women and girls seeking unsafe abortions.
Health insurance
Among women in the poorest households, only 57.4% have ever registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme, as compared with 74.2% of women in the richest households in Ghana. Women in urban areas also had higher registration rates than women in rural areas (70.9% and 66.3%, respectively). In order to become a member of NHIS, one must either pay a premium, register for free maternal care, or is exempt as an indigent. Of the women who achieved NHIS membership, 28.6% paid for the premium themselves. The majority of women (59.5%) had their premium paid for by a friend or relative, and only 1.0% had it paid for by their employer. Most women (39.2%) who did not register for NHIS did not do so because the premium was too expensive.
Violence against women
Women of all ages, socio-economic statuses, and geographic location in Ghana are affected by different forms of violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often con ...
. There are multiple forms of violence against women present in Ghana, such as domestic violence, rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
, and female genital mutilation. Violence against women in Ghana also includes emotional, psychological, and economic violence Economic violence is any act or behaviour which causes economic harm to an individual. Economic violence can take the form of, for example, property damage, restricting access to financial resources, education or the labour market, or not complying ...
.
Domestic violence is one of the most common forms of violence against women in Ghana. A study done in 2015, led by the Institute of Development Studies, found that 27.7% of women in Ghana had experienced domestic violence within the last 12 months. Many acts of violence against women in Ghana have gone unreported as there are social stigma
Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, ra ...
s that are associated with these acts. However, the number of cases of violence against women in Ghana has been increasing every year. Media coverage of violence against women often presents cases of violence against women as individual incidents and often blame the event on the victim.
Historically, Ghanaian women have faced violence from certain cultural practices. For example, Trokosi was a system used by the Ewe tribe, located in the Volta region
Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi- ...
of Ghana, to repay past crimes. Oftentimes, young girls were given away to priests and would become concubines
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
of that priest. In 1998, a law was passed in Ghana that abolished "customary or ritual servitude
Ritual servitude is a practice in Ghana, Togo, and Benin where traditional religious shrines (popularly called fetish shrines in Ghana) take human beings, usually young virgin girls, in payment for services or in religious atonement for alleged m ...
."
Efforts have been made by both the government and non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
s to end acts of violence against women. The Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU), now known as the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit
The Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) is a unit in the Ghana Police Service. It has the capacity to oversee matters of domestic abuse against women and children. DOVVSU has a mission to prevent, apprehend and prosecute culprits o ...
(DOVSU), was established in 1998 for the purpose of handling crimes against women and children. In 2001, the government created the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs
The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MWCA) or Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) of Ghana is the government ministry responsible for the formulation of policies that promote the institutionalization and developme ...
(MWCA) to help non-government organizations and the government in their efforts to address issues of violence against women.
Domestic violence
There are multiple factors that are believed to be influential in the high rates of domestic violence in Ghana. Cultural norms and practices play a large role in attitudes and perceptions of domestic violence. Traditional gender roles in Ghana keep women in the homes to care of the children, while men are expected to be the breadwinners. Spousal abuse
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...
is more common when women choose to follow a career outside the home. Education is also linked to domestic violence. Men who have higher education in Ghana generally do not condone physically abusing their wife. A study done in the BMC Public Health journal found that it is "48% less likely for women to experience domestic violence when husbands had higher than secondary education
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...
."
The practice of polygyny in Ghana also contributes to rates of domestic violence. Women who are part of polygynous marriages generally experience higher rates of domestic violence. Additionally, women who are in polygynous marriages are "more likely to come from households where their mothers experienced domestic violence," according to a study done by Ickowitz & Mohanty.
Women in urban areas face different rates of domestic violence than women in rural areas in Ghana. The risk of women facing domestic violence increases by 35% if residing in urban areas. This could be because "most of the women in urban areas may reside in slums or poor urban areas and/or may have higher wealth index (economic status) which may increase their risk of domestic violence."
The Ghanaian government has attempted to end domestic violence against women. The Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVSU) is a police unit specifically focused on cases about crimes against women and children. There are currently two special courts that solely hear cases of gender-based violence. In 2007, the Ghanaian Parliament passed the Domestic Violence Act (Act 732). This act condemns multiple forms of domestic violence, including sexual, physical, emotional, economic, and physiological violence.
Rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
is a major issue in Ghana. It is estimated that 8% of women have been raped and 6% of girls have been raped in Ghana. This is likely a huge underestimate as many women and girls do not report rape due to fears of social stigmatization and shame. Gang rape is also prevalent in Ghana. In 2016, all reported cases of gang rape included a female victim and all male perpetrators. Many women and girls who are victims of gang rape know at least one of the males in the group attacking her. Rape in Ghana is illegal under section 97 of The Criminal Code.
Marital rape
Marital rape is also a major issue in Ghana. When a woman marries in Ghana, it is a strong cultural belief that they are now under the authority of their husband. Women are often treated as inferior to men. The Criminal Code in Ghana previously had a marriage exception, which stated "a person may revoke any consent which he has given to the use of force against him, and his consent when so revoked shall have no effect for justifying force save that the consent given by a husband or wife at marriage, for the purposes of the marriage, cannot be revoked until the parties are divorced or separated by a judgement or decree of a competent court." In 2007, this marital rape exception was removed from the Criminal Code of Ghana. Despite legislation against marital rape, there remains a social view that the happenings inside the home are private matters that should not be publicly addressed. Therefore, there has been criticism from Ghanaians on prohibiting marital rape.
Child sexual assault
Young girls also face sexual assault in Ghana. 78% of child sexual assault victims know their offender. There has been a consistent decrease in child sexual abuse cases since 2002. However, there is a huge issue of underreporting of child sexual assault in Ghana. One of the most common reasons cited for not reporting cases of child sexual assault is the belief that shame will be brought upon the victim and the victim's family. Additionally, there is a lack of confidence in the law and police system. The Children's Act of 1998 was passed in part to confront the issue of child sexual assault
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whethe ...
. Despite legislative action against child sexual assault, cultural norms and practices allow for perpetrators to face little to no consequences.
Female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is prevalent in Northern Ghana and Ghana's Upper East Region. It is estimated that 4% of women and girls in Ghana have undergone female genital mutilation. Ghana has taken legislative action to end FGM
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was ratified in 1989, and Ghana declared to be against female circumcision. The Ghanaian Criminal Codes were amended in 1994 to include FGM as an offense. Additionally, FGM is outlawed in the Domestic Violence Act of 2003. Despite these governmental efforts, FGM remains an issue in Ghana.
FGM in Ghana can be performed at multiple points in a girls life. Babies can face FGM at birth if the mother is not circumcised. FGM will be performed on many girls at puberty, as this is seen as a rite of puberty. Additionally, FGM can be performed at death to insure the deceased woman is accepted into the ancestral world. A study done in the Journal of Social Development found that education relates to preference of female circumcision - "men who are illiterate and those who have been to primary school are more likely to prefer circumcised women than those with secondary and higher education."
Trafficking
The exact number of women and girls involved in human trafficking in Ghana is unknown. Girls and women are often trafficked into the sex trade, either in surrounding African countries or in European countries. Ghana has attempted to address human trafficking issues with the Human Trafficking Act of 2005, however trafficking remains a problem in Ghana.
Witch camps
Witch camp
Witch camps are settlements where women in Ghana who have been accused of being witches can flee for safety. Women in such camps have been accused of witchcraft for various reasons, including mental illness. Some camps are thought to have been cr ...
s can be found at Bonyasi, Gambaga, Gnani, Kpatinga, Kukuo and Naabuli, all in Northern Ghana
The Northern Region is one of the sixteen regions of Ghana. It is located in the north of the country and was the largest of the sixteen regions, covering an area of 70,384 square kilometres or 31 percent of Ghana's area until December 2018 when ...
. Women have been sent to these witch camps when their families or communities believe they have caused harm to the family. Many women in such camps are widows. It is thought that relatives accused them of witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...
in order to take control of their husbands' possessions. Many women also are mentally ill
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
, a problem that is not well understood in Ghana. The government has said they intend to close these camps down.
Women's rights
Feminist efforts
Feminist organizing has increased in Ghana as women seek to obtain a stronger role in their democratic government. In 2004, a coalition of women created the Women's Manifesto for Ghana The Women's Manifesto for Ghana is a political statement by Ghanaian women demanding rights and equality. The statement was issued in 2004 and continues to influence feminist organizing in Ghana.
Background
The Manifesto came out of increased wome ...
, a document that demands economic and political equality as well as reproductive health care and other rights.[Interview with Manifesto organizers Dzodzi Tsikata, Rose Mensah-Kutin, and Hamida Harrison, conducted by Amina Mama:]
In Conversation: The Ghanaian Women's Manifesto Movement
", in '' Feminist Africa'' 4, 2005. Within this idea of gender inequality comes other problems such as patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...
and matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
inheritance, equal education, wage gaps, and social norms and assigned roles for women. These are some of the main issues Ghanaian women face.
The practice of gender mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming is the public policy concept of assessing the implications for people of different genders of a planned policy action, including legislation and programmes. Mainstreaming offers a pluralistic approach that values the diversi ...
has been debated in Ghana. There is ongoing discourse over whether gender issues should be handled at the national level or by sector ministries and where the economic resources for the women's movement in Ghana should come from.[ Further, critics of gender mainstreaming argue that the system increases bureaucracy and that it has moved funds and energy away from work for women's rights.][ The women's movement in Ghana has adopted an attitude towards gender mainstreaming that is much aligned with that of the international women's movement, which is best summarized in a 2004 AWID newsletter: "Mainstreaming hould behighlighted along with the empowerment of women" and "it appears worthwhile to pick up the empowerment of women again and bring it back to the forefront."]
The NCWD is fervent in its stance that the social and economic well-being of women, who compose slightly more than half of the nation's population, cannot be taken for granted.[ The Council sponsored a number of studies on women's work, education, and training, and on family issues that are relevant in the design and execution of policies for the improvement of the condition of women. Among these considerations the NCWD stressed family planning, ]child care
Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
, and female education as paramount.[
]
Notable Ghanaian women
* Ama Ata Aidoo
Ama Ata Aidoo, ''née'' Christina Ama Aidoo (born 23 March 1942) is a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic. She was the Minister of Education under the Jerry Rawlings administration. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation t ...
* Theodosia Okoh
Theodosia Salome Okoh (born 13 June 1922 – 19 April 2015) was a Ghanaian teacher and artist known for designing Ghana's national flag in 1957. She exhibited her artwork internationally. She also played a leading role in the development of h ...
* Yaa Asantewaa
Yaa Asantewaa I (born 17 October 1840 – 17 October 1921) was the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empirenow part of modern-day Ghana – appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Opese, the Edwesuhene, or ruler, of Edwesu. In 1900 she l ...
* Farida Bedwei
* Esther Afua Ocloo
Esther Afua Ocloo (born Esther Afua Nkulenu; 18 April 1919 – 8 February 2002) was a Ghanaian businesswoman and pioneer of microlending, a programme of making small loans in order to stimulate businesses.
She was one of the founders of Women's W ...
* Angela Dwamena-Aboagye
* Alice Annum
Alice Annum (born 20 October 1948 in Accra) is a retired Ghanaian sprinter. Her personal best time in the 200 metres was 22.89 seconds, achieved at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. She was the first woman to represent Ghana at the Olympics. ...
* Kate Quartey-Papafio
* Sophia Akuffo
* Yaba Badoe
* Dzodzi Tsikata
Dzodzi Tsikata is a Ghanaian feminist, academic, professor of Development Sociology and Director of Institute of African Studies (IAS) at the University of Ghana.
Biography
Dzodzi Tsikata is a professor at the Institute of Statistical Social a ...
* Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang
* Mabel Dove Danquah
Mabel Dove Danquah (1905
''Graphic Online'' (via Modern Ghana), 13 April 2007. (Some ...
* Samira Bawumia
Samira Bawumia (née Ramadan) (born 20 August 1980) is a Ghanaian politician and the Second Lady of the Republic of Ghana. She is married to the Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia.
Education
Samira began her early education at the Answa ...
* Hanna Tetteh
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh (born 31 May 1967) is a Ghanaian barrister and politician. She served in the cabinet of Ghana as Minister for Trade and Industry from 2009 to 2013 and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She was also the Member o ...
* Nana Oye Lithur
* Akua Sena Dansua
Akua Sena Dansua (born 23 April 1958) is an experienced Ghanaian media and communications consultant, politician and governance and leadership practitioner. She was the Member of Parliament for North Dayi in Ghana and former Ambassador to German ...
* Rose Mensah-Kutin Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin (born 22 November 1955) is a Ghanaian gender advocate and professional journalist. As of October 2016, she is the West Africa Regional director for ABANTU for Development.
Early life
She was born and raised in Brofoyedru, a to ...
* Georgina Theodora Wood
Georgina Theodora Wood (née Lutterodt; born 8 June 1947) is a Ghanaian judge and also a former police prosecution officer. She was the Chief Justice of Ghana and the first woman to occupy that position. She retired in 2017 after five decades ...
* Hannah Kudjoe
* Sally Mugabe
Sarah Francesca "Sally" Mugabe (née Hayfron; 6 June 1931 – 27 January 1992) was the first wife of Robert Mugabe (former President of Zimbabwe) and the First Lady of Zimbabwe from 1987 until her death in 1992. She was popularly known as ''Am ...
* Takyiwaa Manuh
Takyiwaa Manuh (born May 1952) is Ghanaian academic and author. She is an Emerita Professor of the University of Ghana, and until her retirement in May 2017, she served as the Director of the Social Development Policy Division, of the Unit ...
* Samia Nkrumah
Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah (born 23 June 1960) is a Ghanaian politician and chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP). In the 2008 parliamentary election, she won the Jomoro constituency seat at her first attempt. She is the daughte ...
* Joyce Adwoa Akoh Dei
* Abena Durowaa Mensah
References
{{Africa topic, Women in
Feminism in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...