This article aims to point out the gender provisions in Ghana’s 1992 constitution and national gender policy, and also to recommend amendments to the ones I think need a reform.
Gender may be as the socially constructed ways of being masculine or feminine. Gender, in many occasions, has been mistakenly used to replace sex. Sex may be defined the biological background which helps to distinguish between a male and a female. The major difference between those two is, that gender, which is the roles assigned to masculinity and femininity by our various societies, while sex, which is the natural traits of a human which helps identity if it is a male or female. R. A Ronland (2021) defines gender as the property we have of being a woman, being a man, being non-binary or being another gender. Gender is also said to be the analytical tool for understanding social processes. It is known that gender attributes differ from society to society. Based on R. A. Ronland’s explanation, it can be noticed that he made mentioned of gender being "non-binary".
Gender may be as the socially constructed ways of being masculine or feminine. Gender, in many occasions have been mistakenly used to replace sex. On the same hand, other people also tend to use sex in place of gender. Sex may be defined the biological background which helps to distinguish between a male and a female. The major difference between those two is that, Gender; this is the roles assigned to masculinity and femininity by our various societies, while sex; this is the natural traits of a human which helps identity if it is a male or female. R. A Ronland, 2021 defined gender as the property we have of being a woman, being a man, being non-binary or being another gender. Gender is also said to be the analytical tool for understanding social processes. It is known that gender attributes differ from society to society. Base on R. A. Ronland’s explanation in one of my prior sentences, it can be noticed that he made mentioned of gender being “non – binary”.
With this, there are societies which supports or affirms gender to be non-binary but other society too does not accept this. The point of the just past passage is to support the claim that gender attributes differ from society to society. One education.org also explained that social expectations of each gender change over time and often develop differently in cultures around the world (Joy Nash, 2016). Personally, I think the complete definition for gender is “Gender identifies the social structure and ideologies that perpetuate and reinforces the unequal position of men and women”. This is based on the fact that, it is a necessary basis for the development of strategies to redress these inequalities caused by gender. It makes mention of unequal positions or the inequalities between men and women.
Our contemporary world is finding all means possible to eradicate the unequal position by men and women averted by the concept of gender. There is rationale for addressing gender inequalities in our contemporary world. States has encoded rights and laws which will bring about equality in our society. Some of these bodies or institutions which embodies these rules and laws are the citizenship rights, constitutions, and development imperatives. Citizenship rights may be defined as the rights, people in a given society or country enjoys. These rights are not gender, race, ethnic or religious biased. The constitution is the ultimate ruler of every state which harbors the laws of every country. Lastly, development imperatives are defined by Erling Holden et al, 2017 as the imperatives of sustainable development which takes the ethical foundation of our common future and builds a model that emphasize three equally important moral imperatives. Satisfying human needs, ensuring social justice and respecting environmental needs. In Ghana, our Constitution has gender equality encoded provisions. And an example of development imperatives which also aims at ensuring gender equality in our Ghanaian society is the national gender policy.
The subsequent passages of the paper will aim at pointing out the gender provisions in Ghana’s 1992 constitution and national gender policy and also recommend amendment to the ones I think need a reform.
I would like to talk about or state the articles in our 1992 constitution which talks about gender and its related issues. Broadly, Chapter 5 of the 1992 constitution talks about the “Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms”. The phrase which heads the chapter makes us notice that, we have fundamental human rights not “fundamental men right”. Which in a lane man’s understanding talks about all species of the homo-sapience, whether children, adults, men, women, or people living with disabilities. The United Nation defined human rights as the rights inherent to all human beings regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion or any other status.
In the article (1) of the chapter in question, the constitution talks about protecting the fundamental human rights of all people found within the four boundaries of the country with all its might. Contrary to this. The article 13(1) also talks about the only situations or circumstance where the fundamental human right of people would be deprived is when a judicial body has exercised an execution of an individual’s basic rights. The immediate paragraph is to give the general idea about the fundamental human rights.
To begin, the subsequent paragraphs will be emphasized on the gender provisions in the 1992 constitution of Ghana and the national gender policy. It is known that the word “Gender” appears just five times in the 1992 constitution of Ghana. Its first appearance in the section 2 of the article 17 and last is in the article 35(5). The national gender policy has the article 17 being its main pillar. The article 17 basically talks about “Equality and freedom from discrimination”. Meriam – Webster defines equality as the equivalence in number or quantity. Mary F. Berry et al also defines equality as an ideal of uniformity in treatment. In this article, all people living in the country must be regarded as equal regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity and any other difference which may exist between other people. Such equality is giving women the same opportunities as men in our societies. Example is being able to own lands; in some communities in Ghana, women are not allowed to own lands because of some stereotypes against women but with the help of this enshrined article and the institutions to enforce it, such discrimination's in our communities would be eradicated. I believe this law would be our ticket in eradicating gender inequality if it was encoded in a more specific phrase. It is believed that the “All persons” means “every gender”. Whereas gender is socially constructed, therefore, however a person sees himself or herself must to be accepted. In our contemporary world, many people who are either a boy or girl biological sees their selves as the otherwise because of “Gender”. Therefore, people with such gender preferences would also want the article 17(1) of the 1992 constitution to protect them meanwhile, we as Ghanaian cherish our cultural and religious values and would not want any socially constructed gender norm to change our values. With all what I have said above, I would recommend that the legislative arm of government change all the five “gender” words in our current constitution to “sex” or either add laws to the constitution which will block all people in the country who sees themselves as a different “sex” other than what they were biologically born with.
Again, in the article 35(6) of the constitution, it states that “The state shall take appropriate measures to achieve reasonable regional and gender balance in the recruitment and appointment to public office. The article in question talks about two different provisions. Our area of specialization with regards to this paper is the gender aspect. Broadly, the gender aspect of the article basically talks about gender equality base on the fact that the article instructs institutions to balance the recruitment of people on gender basis. Personally, I think this article is vague and unprecise and therefore needs to specific. This is due to the fact that, everyone would get his/her own way of interpreting the article and makes it work in favor of his/her institution or personal interest for instance, someone in his/her private firm can decide to recruit 5% females and 95% males claiming that he or she had adhered to the article in question. In other to instill this article in our various institutions in the country, we must amend it, for it to be direct. Personally, I recommend that, the article 35(6) of the 1992 constitution of Ghana must state clearly the percentage of males and females an institution must recruit in other to attain gender equity and equality as a state.
To continue, I would like to again make a recommendation for the amendment in the Article 27 of Ghana’s 1992 constitution which has the heading “Women right”. The first clause of this article basically talks about the maternity leave given to pregnant women in their work places. The constitution states that “Special care should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after child birth and during those periods working mothers shall be accorded paid leave”. In my prior paragraph which talked about the article 35(c). I made it clear that, the article is not specific or direct and therefore might lead to ambiguity. Personally, I have the same problem with this article although it states that “Women shall be given a paid leave” but it does not specify the number of days, weeks or months pregnant women are to embark on the leave, due to this vagueness of this article, there will be differences in the duration of leave which might favor other women and others would be unfavoured.
Firstly, I recommend that, this article should contain the duration women are supposed to spend on leave. This same article discriminates against men on the basis that, men are not allowed to go on leave to support their pregnant wives or spend time with their newborn babies. This tends to make the mother or pregnant woman overburdened and also lack emotional support from their spouses. In the United States of America. They rather have “Maternity leave for employees” instead of what we have in Ghana here “women shall be given a paid leave”. This comes from their “Family Medical Leave Act” and also has a specific duration which is 12 weeks. Based on this, my second recommendation for amendment is that, the article in question must not discriminate against men, they should rather be allowed to go on maternity leave with the wives.
Furthermore, this paragraph and its subsequent paragraphs will emphasize on the national gender policy of Ghana and my recommendations for each.
In this paragraph, I would like to talk about one of the provisions in the national gender policy which talks about “addressing violence against women, which includes sexual and domestic violence”. This policy draws its inspiration from the chapter 5 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana which talks about the protection of the fundamental human rights. Basically, this policy was made to protect women from violence from the opposite sex. Personally, I think this policy discriminates against men, in the sense that, in our contemporary society, women are not the only gender who faces violence. Most men also face violence from women, although, proportionally, violence against women are higher. The fact that violence against women are the most does not guarantee that men who faces violence from women should not be protected. The studying of gender makes us realize that, there should not be any stereotypes attached to any gender. Therefore, men should not be seen invulnerable to women when it comes to violence. In basic terms, it must be watched with the “same lens” use to watch violence against women. Above all, I recommend that amendment should be done to include men to this policy. In this case, men would not be shy in reporting cases of being sexually or domestically abuse by women.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main topic of the text?
The text discusses gender, its social construction, and its relationship to sex. It also analyzes gender-related provisions in Ghana's 1992 Constitution and National Gender Policy, suggesting amendments to address perceived inequalities.
How does the text define gender and sex?
The text defines gender as the socially constructed ways of being masculine or feminine, and sex as the biological background that distinguishes between male and female. It emphasizes that gender roles are assigned by society, while sex refers to natural traits.
What is the author's view on the current understanding of gender?
The author supports that Gender identifies the social structure and ideologies that perpetuate and reinforces the unequal position of men and women.
What is the rationale for addressing gender inequalities?
The text mentions citizenship rights, constitutions, and development imperatives as reasons for addressing gender inequalities. These are encoded in rights and laws to promote equality in society.
What does Chapter 5 of Ghana's 1992 Constitution cover?
Chapter 5 focuses on "Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms," emphasizing the protection of these rights for all individuals within the country's boundaries.
How many times does the word "Gender" appear in Ghana's 1992 Constitution?
The word "Gender" appears five times in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
What article is considered a main pillar of the National Gender Policy?
Article 17, which basically talks about “Equality and freedom from discrimination”is considered the main pillar of the National Gender Policy.
What are the author's recommendations regarding Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution?
The author recommends changing the word "gender" to "sex" in the constitution or adding laws to address concerns about socially constructed gender norms conflicting with cultural and religious values.
What are the author's concerns about Article 35(6) of the Constitution?
The author finds Article 35(6), which discusses regional and gender balance in public office recruitment, vague and imprecise. They suggest specifying the percentage of males and females to be recruited to ensure gender equity.
What amendments does the author propose for Article 27 ("Women's Right")?
The author suggests specifying the duration of maternity leave and including provisions for men to also take maternity leave to support their wives and newborns.
What are the author's views on the National Gender Policy's focus on violence against women?
The author believes the policy discriminates against men and recommends including men as victims of violence, enabling them to report cases of sexual or domestic abuse by women without shame.
- Quote paper
- Hafiz Abdul Hamid Salifu (Author), 2023, Gender Provisions in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution and Recommendations for Amendment, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1355949
