VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

In Canada, violence against women is taken very seriously by the law. Hence, social institutions are put in place to protect women and children. Violence against women and children is an issue that is very dear to members of the feminist movement and many women organizations. With all the social support systems put in place and laws against violence against women in Canada, women and children still suffer. However, the social, political and human rights record of the country attest to the prevention and promotion of women’s right. In the developing world however, violence against women is an everyday occurrence that men get away with. Violence against women comes in many forms such as verbal, psychological, as well as physical abuse. It can be noted that there are some sources that are the cause for violence against women. Foremost is patriarchy, then tradition, ten education and economic, not to say the least tradition and culture also influences the different roles between men and women. In Africa however physical abuse is so rampant between spouses that many people even when they know it is not right do not intervene until there is fatality. Just today, reading Ghana news on line, I came across the story of a young twenty –three year old mother of two being accused of the murder of her abusive husband. Over the years that she has been married, the relationship has been wrought with both verbal and physical abuse and the psychological abuse of sending her away from her matrimonial home when she was pregnant. In a case such as this, no one had the strong sense of purpose of intervening for the woman and promoting her rights as an individual; however, when tragedy struck the woman’s is at fault. As such, some are calling for women’s groups and interested women’s lawyers to represent this young, mother of three less she is further abused by a system that refused to help her.

Not to speak of such issues, I was privy to this experience when I recently visited my village in the Eastern region of Ghana. A married couple was having a fight, and the man was verbally and physically abusing the wife. Out of concern for the health and safety of the woman I had wanted to intervene in this issue. I asked of the background, how long has this been on going and the sanity of both partners. The woman was a drunk, and the husband hated it when the wife drank the hard liquor “akpeteshie” and lay drunk beyond her senses in front of their house. Foremost what came to mind was addiction. The woman was addicted to alcohol and there was no way they tried to understand the issue from a mental health perspective. Hence daily abuse that no one was willing to intervene as whom ever intervene become the subject of the couple’s anger.

One thing that I want to point out is that violence against women is not right. Previously there was the notion that when your boyfriend pounds on you, it mean he loves you so much. Some women seem to enjoy the affection after an abuse. It came to a point that some young women provoked their boyfriends to indicate that they loved them. It is rather unfortunate that violence had to be looked upon as a consequence of love.

The new generation of women and their definition of love and marriage are turning away the old ideology of love and violence that subjugated women and define women as either “punching bag”, sex toys or worthless members of society. Education and economic freedom, travel, among other things are changing the perspectives of the new generation in the cities. In the villages where education is very low and poverty is extreme, such behaviors and violence against women continue. Hence, the question becomes how do we stop this, how do we empower women in the rural areas to stand up for themselves. What is the best way of redefine violence as a negative form of relationship for these women? The multiplicity of Africa makes the work very difficult but doable with a lot of effort.