chapter3

In a general sense, gender imbalance refers to inequalities, particularly problems of discrimination that run counter to trends in international practice or are seen to violate the spirit and letter of national constitutions, or are perceived to be morally wrong.

In Ghana, as is typical of most African countries gender issues have roots that are much deeper and more complicated than the simple purely legal and moral depths of western and international models. Paradoxically in Ghana, the most endemic gender-violating issues have their roots in and are reinforced by the laws and customs of most of the societies in which they are prevalent. In those societies, a combination of cultural practices, religious beliefs, ethnic traditions and society-endorsed norms and prescriptions uphold the inferiority of the female gender and propagates male dominance, general bondage of women to men and, to a large extent, virtual make ownership of women.

These traditions provide conditions for the infraction of gender rights. And worst still, those gender-violating conditions are vehemently defended by the societies in which they prevail as necessary components for the maintenance and promotion of the traditions and customs of the land, promotion of social and political cohesion and fulfillment of religious requirements. In the circumstances, various forms of violence, injury, abuse maltreatment, exploitation and discrimination are meted out to women and girls in those societies with the full acknowledgment and insistence of traditional authorities and under the eagle-eyes of the so-called guardians of the customs of those societies.

The irony of the situation is that, in nearly all such cases, both the perpetrators and victims contribute to the perpetration and entrenchment of the violations in the name of culture, religion and tradition. Parents and guardians submit to such violations, perceiving them as social obligation whose offenders must be liable to punishment and wrath of the gods. And so the so-called guardians of customs and traditions gleefully fulfill their so-called social obligations with the full backing of their communities and the full concession and participation of their victims (the women and girls) and their relatives.
Against such background, national, private sector and civil society efforts to restructure gender imbalance draw into long, unending debates, which often generate ambivalence, indecision and divided fronts at virtually all levels of Ghanaian society.

A closer observation of one or two of the forms of violence committed against women and girls confirms these observations and presents aspects of the framework of gender imbalance in this part of the world.

Female genital mutilation also commonly known as female circumcision, refers to the several practices in some parts of the country in which some vital parts of female sexual organs are cut off and removed, according to their perpetrators, to enhance fertility, prevent promiscuity, maintain hygiene, preserve virginity, promote social and political cohesion, maintain tradition and fulfill religious obligation.

The practice which is common in the northern parts of Ghana, but which is also used in many other communities throughout the country, involves three types of mutilation - excision, clitoridectomy and infibulation or "paranoiac" circumcision. Excision involves the removal of he clitoris and the inner tops of the female external genitalia or labia minora. Clitoridectomy is the removal of the clitoral prepuce or tip of the clitoris. Infibulation or "paranoiac" circumcision is seen as the most extreme of the three operations.

The practice has been listed as a serious health risk and violation of the basic rights of girls to a productive future and so has banned it continued practice declared a second-degree felony under the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act. 1994 (Act 484), punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less that three years.
Yet, the practice continues largely for reasons of cultural and religious identity. Parents submit their daughters for the practice who in turn surrender in order not to present their families as being cowardly or deliberately inviting the wrath of the guiding spirits of their communities.

This is a practice in which young female virgins are given away to oracles and shrines as "gift" ostensibly as reparation for crimes allegedly committed by a relation. This practice prevails in many shrines scattered all over the Volta Region of Ghana, and the Adaume areas of Greater Accra Region.

To stop the practice, special provisions have been made in the nation's constitution and in the Criminal Code Amendment Act. A lot of pressure has also been brought to bear on the practice by human right organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGO'S). Through the work of International Needs, one of the NGO's 2,900 victims had been released by October 31 this year (2001).

Despite the pressure, however the practice still counties in many shrines for the simple reason that some of the communities located around the shrines embrace the practice as an integral part of their culture which must be protected and sustained. Thus, mothers, grandmothers, aunts and sisters and family members participate in ensuring the surrender of one of their own, often the most beautiful or brightest, to the priests of the shrines.

Rape, the practice of having carnal knowledge of a female without her consent, has been very much in the news in Ghana particularly these past few years for reasons of its high incidence and the surprisingly tender ages of some of the victims. Reports traced to the Women and Juvenile Unit of the Ghana Police Service (WAJU) indicate that as far as such defilement's go, between April 1 and this year, "a total of 92 cases have so far been reported." And that "out of these 25 % related to the defilement of young girls between the ages of one year to eight".

To stop the menace of contraction of the HIV/AIDS virus and other STD as well as banish the degradation, humiliation and threats to life by suffered by the victims, rape has been made a criminal offense. Article 88 (section 3) of the constitution declares the Attorney-General responsible for initiating the handling action against such offense.

Despite this constitutional provision however, the practice continues as a result of the prevalence of societal perceptions.Rape is highly underreported because of the stigma that its victims and their relatives believe will be attached to them and their families. Conspiratorially, therefore, silence is kept over a great number of rape cases, and this same silence protects the rapists .

Also, rape cases are hardly reported because the attitudes of society and the law enforcement agencies victims. Often, rape victims are treated as suspect, accused of having deliberately or inadvertently beckoned rapists through their dressing and other codes victims are also accused of false accusation of perpetrator, and consenting to the sex action by not fighting off the rapist. Rape within marriage suffer much less correction in our society in which payment of bride-price by a man is misconstrued to mean ownership of the woman.

How do you legally stop wife-beating when society upholds it as part of the marriage contract? How do you stop child-marriage when the community accepts it as a necessary practice? How do you successfully protest against brutal widow hood rites performed on women who lose their husbands if the customary and traditional mourning practices of the community in question demand its observance and the victims acquiesce in them for fear of being mocked at or being haunted by the ghosts of their deceased husbands?

In the western world, gender issues evolve around simple discriminatory practice which can be taken care of legally. However in Ghana, gender issues, it can be realised from the above discussions, are hydra-headed. They include the normal discriminatory practices, culture-induced violence, society-prompted deprivation, poverty as well as religion- supportive anti-female practice.