Posted on October 15, 2007
In Ghana, four women were recently killed by their husbands on the suspicion of infidelity.
Last Wednesday, University of Ghana associate professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo traveled across the Atlantic to speak to JMU students and faculty about the domestic violence bill passed in Ghana on Feb. 21, 2007. Under the bill, acts like these would no longer go unpunished.
Ampofo, a Fulbright scholar, is the director of the Gender Studies Program at the University of Ghana.
A 1997 study showed that one in three women in Ghana has been abused or sexually harassed. More than 90 percent of the perpetrators were men, and 95 percent of the victimizers were close relatives. Statistics show that instances of domestic violence rose in Ghana from 1993 to 2003.
The study is forcing women’s rights to be acknowledged, an issue that has been largely ignored in Ghana.
“The courts are very slow and domestic violence cases do not receive much attention,” Ampofo said. “In a society where marriage is viewed as necessary and desirable, the rights of husbands are superseding the rights of wives.”
The process toward enacting a domestic violence bill in Ghana began in 2000. The bill was intended to repeal section 42G of the criminal code that stated that when a husband and a wife get married they consent to anything to uphold in that marriage, including violence.
“The bill sought to bring Ghana into compliance with a number of provisions criminalizing various physical, sexual, economic and psychological acts of violence,” she said.
The bill includes protection orders for abused women, widens the definition of a domestic relationship to non-family members and people not living together and lists requirements for alternative dispute resolutions.
In 2004, the amount of activism against domestic violence and for the reconstructive bill reached an all time high, according to Ampofo. Television, radio, newspapers and documentaries all addressed the subject.
“This bill underwent the most exhaustive scrutiny that in my memory, we have had with any other bill,” Ampofo said. “The speed with which that bill passed despite objections is a clear example of the ways in which legislation can be passed.”
Students said that the passage of the law was a good sign.
“It was very enlightening because you really don’t hear much about these issues around here,” freshman Amanda Reeves said. “I found it interesting that the men over there see no problems with the way they treat their women, because obviously over here, it is appalling.”
Senior marketing major Justine Bui said that the United States should have been more involved with the topic but has hope for the future.
“Given the awareness, I think college students have the capacity to elect officials who are more concerned with humanitarian and equality issues worldwide,” she said.
According to Ampofo, currently only three countries in Africa – Mauritius, South Africa and now Ghana, have enacted domestic violence laws.
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