Violence against Women in Ghana. Interventions by NGOs

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Literature review
2.1 Violence and Gender Base Violence Definitions
2.2 Theoretical framework
2.3 Empirical Literature
2.4 Overview of Operational Activities of NGOs in Addressing VAW
2.5 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies Employed by NGOs in Combating VAW in Ghana.
2.6 Brief Background of the Four Selected NGOs

3. Materials and methods
3.1 Research Design and Approach
3.2 Sample Size
3.3 Sampling Techniques
3.4 Data Handling and Analysis
3.5 Ethical Consideration

4. Empirical results
4.1 Background Information of Respondents
4.2 The Role Played by the Four NGO’s In Combating VAW in Ghana. (Objective one)
4.3. Evaluating or assessing the effectiveness of interventional initiatives/strategies of the four NGO’s in combating VAW in Ghana. (Objective 2)
4.4 Challenges Faced by The Four NGO’s in Combating Violence against Women in Ghana (Objective 3)

5. Conclusion
5.1 Recommendations and Policy implications

Acknowledgements

REFERENCES

Abstract: Violence Against Women (VAW) is a worldwide pandemic that permeates across all geographical boundaries and impacts all people and societies regardless of culture, class, ethnicity, age, race, socio-economic status, political leaning, or religion. It is a daily phenomenon faced by humanity from the household level to national levels. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have devised several means of curbing VAW but the menace still persist. This qualitative research assessed the effectiveness of the strategies adopted by four key NGOs in addressing VAW within the Ghanaian context. The study targeted a total of fifty two respondents comprising; eight personnel from the four selected NGOs; twelve state actors; fourteen non-state actors and eighteen direct beneficiaries through the usage of in-depth (informal) and key informant interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, direct field observations as well as desk top review of official documents. The study found out that, all four NGOs utilised among others, five key strategies in tackling the menace of VAW in Ghana and these are awareness creation, lobbying and advocacy, community mobilisation, activism and networking, training/capacity building and service provision. The study results further indicated that, notwithstanding the efficacy of the strategies deployed by the NGOs, there were some challenges that confronted the NGOs in their fight against VAW. Notable among them were the lack of willingness on the part of victims of VAW to report and further pursue perpetrators of VAW, financial constraints facing the NGOs as well as state actors and lack of well-coordinated approach on the part of all stakeholders in their effort to eradicate VAW in Ghana. The study made a number of recommendations, including collaborative efforts of all stakeholders to fight VAW, adequate resourcing and funding of the NGOs by both government and donor agencies. Also recommended is the intensification of the education on the unlawfulness of VAW and that, any culprits apprehended would be punished by law. These and many others will serve as measures to improve the effectiveness of the strategies employed by the NGOs in their fight against the cancerous menace of VAW in Ghana.

Keywords: Ghana; Non-governmental organizations (NGOs); Strategies; Violence against women (VAW);

1. Introduction

“Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture, or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development, and peace.” (Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary General, 1999). “Across the world Violence against Women and Girls remain one of the most serious- and the most tolerated- human rights violations, both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and discrimination. Its continuous presence is one of the clearest makers of societies out of balance and we are determined to change that. On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women we say again: it is not acceptable. It is not inevitable. It can be prevented”. (Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka – United Nations [UN], Women Executive Director, 20th November 2015)

From these two powerful statements, it is clear that Violence against Women (VAW) is a worldwide phenomenon attacking the very basis of our human rights with replicating cause and consequences on gender inequality and discrimination against women around the world which needs not be tolerated or condoned in any form what so ever. VAW is a global pandemic that cuts across all borders and impacts all people and societies regardless of culture, class, ethnicity, age, race, socio-economic status, political leaning, or religion [1, 2, 3]. VAW is widely spread, deeply ingrained and has serious effects on the well-being of people. This violence desecrates women’s physical and/or psychological wellbeing since it causes harm and pain [4, 5, 6]. Its persistent existence is morally indefensible. It continues to dampen economic development and tears at the fabric of society. The health costs to women include not only the detrimental impact on their physical well-being and life-long emotional distress, but also increases their susceptibility to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and affects their mental and reproductive health. In addition to physical injury, VAW results in constant episodes of fear, depression, stress, trauma, low self-esteem, and hate [7, 8]. Research also shows that VAW leads to maternal and infant mortality due to poor nutrition, low birth weight, and inadequate nursing [9, 10, 11].

Worldwide, violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer, and its toll on women's health surpasses that of motor accidents, war and malaria combined [12]. Recent global prevalence figures indicate that about 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Most of this violence is IPV. Worldwide, almost one third (30%) of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner. Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner [13]. Some estimates also suggest that one in four women will experience domestic violence (DV) in their lifetime [14]. According to [15], 35% of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and and/or sexual violence in the life time with up to 7 to 10 women facing this abuse in some countries. It is estimated that up to 30 million girls under the age of 15 remain at risk from female genital mutilation (FGM), and more than 130 million girls and women have undergone the procedure worldwide. Worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children. 250 million of whom were married before the age of 15. Girls who marry before the age of 18 are less likely to complete their education and more likely to experience DV and complications in child birth. The medical, security, and legal costs of VAW to countries are immense. In addition, the cost to women, their children, families and communities is a significant obstacle to reducing poverty and achieving gender equality.

Like other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, DV is a problem in Ghana probably due to the structures of domination and exploitation often peddled through the concept of patriarchy [16, 17, 18]. A 1998 survey on DV among women in Ghana showed that one in three had been beaten, slapped or physically abused by a current or most recent partner [19, 4]. It is noteworthy that Ghana has signed and ratified a number of international conventions, protocols and treaties including the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 1979, which states that all member States are obliged to act with due diligence to prevent violations of women’s rights, to investigate and punish acts of violence that occur, and to provide assistance and compensation to victims of DV and UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVAW) of 1993. Others include: The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender Equality (CPoA. 2005 - 2015) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) now the Sustainable development Goals (SDG), 2015. At the regional level, Ghana is a party to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Signed in 1989, Protocol to the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights (PACHPR signed in 2003 and ratified in 2007), the Plan of Action on Ageing, promulgated in Madrid, Spain, in 2002, the African Union Policy Framework and Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002 among others. There is quiet a progressive legal framework that influence gender equality work. The 1992 Constitution – the supreme law of Ghana and subsequent legal provisions are consistent with the demands of international conventions. In line with its international commitments, there are number of laws and policies implemented by different state agencies all aimed at social, economic and cultural development of the country.

These includes: Matrimonial Causes Act, 1971 (Act 367); Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694); Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715); Whistle Blowers Act, 2006 (Act 720); Children’s Act, 1998, (Act 560); The Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act 732), among others. Some harmful traditional practices such as widowhood rites and FGM have been criminalised under the Criminal Code Amendment Act 1998 (Act 554). In 2007, Parliament further strengthened the law against FGM by increasing the maximum penalty to ten years of imprisonment and extending the range of persons who can be prosecuted for involvement in an act of FGM. Furthermore, the Domestic Violence Management Board 2008 is a task force at government level in collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisation (CSOs). There has also been the establishment of institutions such as Domestic violence courts, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), establishment of a national DV secretariat and programmes aimed at creating awareness of VAW in Ghana. The police service's DOVVSU handles cases of DV and child abuse, as well as juvenile offences. It also works closely with the Department of Social Development (DSD), the Legal Aid Board, and several human rights organisations and NGOs to combat DV. To further address discrimination facing women, the Government of Ghana has established the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) to among other things be the policy initiator and to monitor and report on the extent to which government’s efforts are achieving results with respect to the elimination of VAW in the country. Despite the international and national efforts, VAW remains an issue in Ghana. Research on the prevalence of VAW in Ghana conducted by the authors in [4] demonstrated the high incidences of domestic VAW: 1 out of 3 interviewed women reported being physically abused by their husbands/partners, 1 out of 5 suffered psychological abused in intimate relations. Some respondents also admitted being sexually abused by their husbands/partners.

In an attempt to address VAW, there has been a sprang in the number of NGOs, CSOs, human rights organisations and women’s right groups in Ghana since the 1980’s. These organisations are significant in their “outreach to grassroots groups and employs innovative strategies to address VAW [20]. Critical group of actors who complement government’s efforts in addressing VAW are NGOs who have used myriad strategies in their interventions. The fundamental concern of this paper is the problem of VAW in Ghana. While the evidence across sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana in particular, suggests an increase in the incidence and prevalence of VAW, the problem has largely been unexplored [17]. In particular, little attention has been given to the compilation of adequate, comprehensive and credible research based data on socio-cultural and economic factors that influence VAW and the assessment of the effectiveness of stakeholder interventional strategies employed especially by NGOs in addressing the cancerous menace of GBV in Ghana [7]. This research seeks to fill this gap by examining and assessing the efficacy of interventional strategies used by NGOs in addressing the issue of VAW in Ghana. The role NGOs play in addressing VAW in Ghana, their use of particular strategies, how they engage with the survivors of gender base violence (GBV) and the effect of any engagement on the success of such strategies as well as assessment of the key challenges and best practices in addressing VAW in Ghana are the key questions that this paper explores.

Focusing on four such NGOs in Ghana, namely; The Ark Foundation (The Ark), Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Ghana), Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Center (Gender Centre), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF Ghana), this paper interrogates the extent to which these NGOs have succeeded; what strategies have worked, what did not work, areas where it can be replicated, challenges and sustainability of interventions . This research adds to the body of data available to stakeholders in addressing the issue of VAW in Ghana and an opportunity to work towards real solutions. The research also provides a basis for advocacy for all NGOs and CSOs for policy and legal changes that aids in eradicating the menace of VAW in our societies. It provides the platform for profiling and highlighting some best practices in ending VAW for the adaptation of all interested stakeholders in Ghana. The findings of this study therefore adds to the existing body of literature, a valuable guide to especially policy makers and a source of reference for future scholarly research.

The major constriction the study envisages is access to current, adequate and reliable information. Some scholars have questioned the reliability of surveys based on self-reports especially when they border on sensitive issues like GBV particularly in the domestic settings. It is thus possible that physical and sexual violence will be under-reported especially among married couples given the stigma and other related consequences attached to reporting such incidence in most Ghanaian societies. This study foresees that this constraint may not give out findings which are consistent with the current socio-cultural and economic situation on issues of VAW in Ghana. This notwithstanding, the attempt by the researcher to employ the instilment of researcher-respondents trust, respect and confidentiality is belief will be successful in harnessing the needed information from the respondents for the purposes of the research.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 reviews the theoretical and relevant empirical issues on VAW. Section 3 outlines the research methodology. Section 4 discusses the empirical results. Section 5 concludes with some policy implications.

2. Literature review

2.1 Violence and Gender Base Violence Definitions

Before analysing GBV issues, it is important to understand the definitions of the terms ‘violence’ and ‘gender-based violence’. As indicated by the authors in [4], the way any social problem is defined sets the parameters within which solutions are developed. Definition or lack of a definition can determine the visibility of the issue. How Ghana understands the problem will push her to respond and influence her in her approach to respond [4]. The authors in [21] defined violence as an act carried out with the intention or perceived intention of physically hurting another person. The author in [22] also defined violence as punishment for doing or not doing something, a use of force to get somebody to do or refrain from doing something, or forcibly taking something from someone with or without the intention to harm. It can also be defined as the exercise of power in order to impose one’s will on a person or to have ones will with a thing [23]. When this violence comes in the circle of gender relations, it becomes a pervasive and prevalent problem worldwide, touching all aspects of women's lives, from the home to the workplace [23].

The author in [24] highlights VAW as: VAW includes any act, omission or conduct by means of which physical, sexual or mental suffering is inflicted, directly or indirectly through deceit, seduction, threat, harassment, coercion or any other means on any woman with the purpose or effect of intimidating, punishing or humiliating her or of denying her human dignity, sexual self-determination, physical, mental or moral integrity or of undermining the security of her person, her self-respect or her personality or of diminishing her physical or mental capacities. The authors in [25] have argued that GBV is defined as ‘violence which embodies the power imbalances inherent in patriarchal society’, an imbalance society and therefore underpins the high level of violence women experience. The social and cultural understandings of women which permit this imbalance can be shared by both women and men, consequently sanctioning ‘practices that permit male authority figures to exercise high levels of physical violence over women’, [23].

The definition of GBV was discussed in detail at the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development in 1990 and participants concluded that the definition of GBV is “any act involving use of force or coercion with intent of perpetuating or promoting hierarchical gender relations" [23]. On 20th December 1993, the General Assembly of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVAW) offered the first official definition of GBV in resolution 48/104:

Article 1: Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

Article 2: The definition should encompass, but not be limited to, acts of physical, sexual, and psychological violence in the family, community, or perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs. These acts include: spousal battery; sexual abuse, including of female children; dowry-related violence; rape, including marital rape; female genital mutilation/cutting and other traditional practices harmful to women; non-spousal violence; sexual violence related to exploitation; sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in school and elsewhere; trafficking in women; and forced prostitution.

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action expanded on this definition of VAW, specifying that it includes violations of the rights of women in situations of armed conflict, such as: systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy, forced sterilisation, forced abortion, coerced or forced use of contraceptives, prenatal sex selection and female infanticide. It further recognised the particular vulnerabilities of women belonging to minorities: the elderly and the displaced; indigenous, refugee and migrant communities; women living in impoverished rural or remote areas; and women in detention. As women who are overwhelmingly victimized because of being women and because of their sex, the term GBV is often used for VAW worldwide. Despite using the two terms interchangeably for the purposes of this discussion, this paper recognises that GBV is not confined entirely to women and girls. Boys and men can be affected by GBV as well. GBV emphasizes that the violence occurred due to the victim’s gender, usually as a result of vulnerabilities due to subordinate status [26]. Following the UN use of the term “women”, this refers to females of all ages, including girls, unless specified otherwise. This paper focuses on VAW committed by both men and women.

2.2 Theoretical framework

Anti-colonial theory informs us that ‘oppression’ is founded by and maintained through the mechanism of ‘violence’ [27]. According to the author in [27], violence, in forms of physical, psychological, material, and symbolic, rules “over the ordering of the colonial world…”, ‘hemming in’ the ‘native’ by limiting space, choice, and independence. From [27], we draw that male VAW is a projection of systems of colonialism and oppression. It is intended to “hem in” women and limit their independence. The thrust of the anti-colonial framework has been clearly articulated by [28, 29, 30]. According to the authors in [29], anti-colonialism is “an epistemology of the colonized, anchored in the indigenous sense of collective and common colonial consciousness”. Within this framework the “Colonial…is conceptualized not simply as foreign or alien, but rather as imposed and dominating”. Further, anti-colonialism regards “marginalized groups as subjects of their own experiences and histories” and works to “challenge the foundations of institutionalized power and privilege, and the accompanying rationale for dominance in social relations”. The anti-colonial framework is believed to constitute a point of convergence for all anti-oppression, anti-domination approaches to politics. What is noteworthy of anti-colonial (anti-racism) theory is the belief in the power and agency of the oppressed for resistance and eventual transformation - decolonization.

Feminist theory is a body of literary, philosophical and sociological analysis that explores the inequality that exists between men and women in societies around the world. Specifically, this theoretical body of knowledge examines gender-based aspect that affects politics, power relations and sexuality. Feminist theory consists of numerous subcategories that explain gender disparity through differing causal factors.

Regardless of the subcategory of Feminist theory that is examined, all of them contend that men and women should be equal within the political, economic, sexual and social spheres of society [31]. Feminist explanations of domestic and marital violence focus on patriarchy, male dominance and control. Central to this framework, is the argument that VAW is a result of the unequal power relations structurally embedded in a patriarchal system [32]. It also focuses on the societal messages that sanction a male’s use of violence and aggression throughout life, and the prohibited gender roles that dictate how men and women should behave in their intimate relationships [33]. It sees the root causes of IPV as the outcome of living a society that condones aggressive behaviours perpetrated by men, while socializing women to be non-violent. Proponents of feminist theory acknowledge that women can also be violent in their relationships with men; however, they simply do not see the issue of women abusing men as a serious social problem, and therefore, does not deserve the same amount of attention or support as VAW [34].

Connected to the broader anti-colonial (anti-racist) conversational frames is the feminist concept of patriarchy. There is no precise definition of patriarchy. The author in [35] notes that, “it [patriarchy] appears in several logically different forms of theory and takes on different meanings according to its context”.

In Max Weber’s usage, patriarchy refers to “a system of government in which men rule societies through their position as heads of households” [36]. It is generally understood that patriarchy is male control and male privilege; the ideology of male superiority, and the dominance of men in the exercise of power and control [37, 38, 39]. According to the author in [40] patriarchy is: the intimate power of men over women, a power which is historically exercised within the family by the male as breadwinner, property owner, or armed defender of women and children… [and] the rule of the father, including the rule of older men over younger men and of fathers over daughters, as well as husbands over wives. The author in [41] noted that: patriarchy which is also put forward as a theoretical explanation for the subordination of women describes the political and social control of women by men. In the same vain, the author in [36] categorised six overlapping structures that define patriarchy and that take different forms in different cultures and different times:

- The state: women are unlikely to have formal power and representation
- The household: women are more likely to do the housework and raise the children.
- Violence: women are more prone to being abused
- Paid work: women are likely to be paid less
- Sexuality: women's sexuality is more likely to be treated negatively
- Culture: women are more misrepresented in media and popular culture

From these scholars we understand patriarchy to give men the right and power to judge behaviour – especially of the non-masculine – and to discipline and punish [42]. The adverse social security – income, health, education, and housing – implications of neo-liberalism for the low-income classes, especially women and girls, are global [43]. The livelihoods of women and girls are being cut off because (1) they have little educational qualification for formal employment and (2) the informal sector they depend on is effectively destroyed by liberalization and structural adjustment policies. It is here we understand that the dismantling of the welfare state in the era of neoliberal globalization is another site in which capitalist masculinity enacts VAW. Women, especially single and racialised mothers, whose opportunities have been so restricted that they constitute the majority constituency depending on welfare, are now regarded as ‘social loafers’, welfare bums, or ‘welfare Queens’, to use of US terminology [44]. There is a collective denial or refusal to acknowledge that it is the patriarchal, sexist, and racist society that has historically constructed women as ‘dependents’. Instead, there is the strong and more convenient temptation to define social problems as ‘individual failures’. In Ghana, for instance, women are expected to be subservient to their male partners demonstrated through accepting, and not responding to physical, emotional and sexual abuse from male partners and by taking care of their husbands in the domestic setting [7, 17]. In one of the pioneering works on DV in Ghana, the author in [17] observed that marital violence was mainly a consequence of the subordinate position of women, their passivity, and economic dependence on their male partners. Thus, from the feminist perspective, marital violence can only be addressed as part of a larger process of dealing with gender inequality in Ghana.

The standard sex and gender model consist of ideologies based on sex and gender of every individual and serves as “norms” for societal life. The model claims that the sex of a person is the physical body that the individual is born with, strictly existing within a male/female dichotomy. The standard model defines gender as a social understanding /ideology that defines what behaviours, actions and appearances are proper for males and females living in a society. Sex or gender role differentiation is a characteristic feature of a patriarchal society. Norms of sex/gender roles dictate that men specialize in production and creation of cultural values and artefacts in the ‘public sphere’ whereas women are assigned roles of procreation, care, and maintenance in the ‘domestic sphere’ [45, 46]. Sex/gender role theory is elaborated by [35]. The author in [35] identifies five principles that constitute “the logical core of role theory”: a distinction between person and position occupied; a set of actions or role behaviours accompanying the position; role expectations or norms detailing appropriate actions vested in a position; role senders and reference groups – policing agents of role expectations; and role enforcement through sanctions – positive and negative reinforcements. According to the author in [35], when role theory is applied to gender, the: basic idea is that being a man or a woman means enacting a general role definitive of one’s sex – the ‘sex role’. There are, accordingly, always two sex roles in a given context, the ‘male role’ and the ‘female role’; less commonly but equivalently called ‘man’s role’ or ‘woman’s role’, the ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine role’, etc. It can be deduced from [35] that men are not only assigned the ‘masculine’ role, they are policing agents with the authority to enforce compliance through various sanctions.

The concept of power is central to feminist analysis and explanations of all forms of VAW. Feminists focus on men’s exercise, misuse, and abuse of power over women and identify violence as a means to maintain or regain that power.

Some feminists refer to this kind of power simply as power itself, such as defined by the author in [47]: Power consists primarily in being able to take a decision which will affect someone else or in acting to force, confine, forbid, or prevent. Whoever exercises such power subordinates and degrades, forces actions, exercises control and assumes the right to punish, seize material property, infringe symbolic rights and dominate in every aspect [48]. The author in [49] points out that: Power in feminist analysis is not a property but a relation [original emphasis] which structures interactions between men and women in all areas of social life. The fact that women, unlike other oppressed groups, are expected to live in intimate contact with those who have power over them, not only respecting but also loving them, makes women’s subordination both pervasive and insidious. However, these perspectives fail to note that not all power is harmful. I therefore distinguish men’s power over women as power over from other kinds of power such as power within, power to, and power with, which will be discussed later. Power over, although not limited to, is primarily exercised by men over women and is aimed at achieving and maintaining the subjugation and the exclusion of women. Power over can and is often enforced through violence, fear, and the threat of violence. However, it can also be enforced through more subtle means such as fears that women have been socialized to impose on themselves or “social rules which force the weaker to accept the will of the stronger” [50].

2.3 Empirical Literature

2.3.1 Types and Nature of Gender Based Violence

Women are subjected to: (1) physical violence – cruel punishment and physical torture, forced labour, beating, hits, kicks, pulls, pushes, slaps, or assault with weapons, death; (2) sexual violence – forced sex, rape, gang rape, defilement, sexual harassment, fondling young girls, prostitution, forced homosexuality, nonconsensual sex, indecent sexual exposure, and FGM; (3) psychologically injurious behavior representing various element of emotional abuse – threatening behaviors, objectification (disrespect for women, discrimination, favouritism, dehumanization and degrading behaviors), verbal abuse/insults, humiliation/shaming, curses, and communication blackouts; (4) socio-economic violence – deprivation, tension between essential needs and available resources, women’s demand for money arising from economic hardship (lack of education, unemployment) often trigger conflicts and/or a rationalization for violence and (5) traditional and cultural practices defined as violence – FGM, tribal markings, food taboo’s for women, widowhood which could involve widow head shaving, seclusion, dress codes, prayers/libation, systematic gestures directed at corpse, unrealistic expression of loss, food rationing, punitive bathing in cold water, among others. Others include lengthy abstentions from sex ranging from 2 to 6 months, restricted movement including edicts not to work which may be combined with neglect from extended family, conflicts over inheritance of property from the deceased spouse, adultery rites, a process of shaming women by subjecting women to cleansing and ‘punitive’ rites, ‘trokosi’ a system of female enslavement whereby young female virgins are given away to oracles or shines in payment for past crimes committed by family members, [4, 51, 52]. Other forms of VAW include witchcraft accusation and witch-burning [53], FGM [54], widow immolation and femicide [55], forced heterosexuality, forced early marriage and child bearing, rape [56], pornography [57], forced sterilization [58], exclusion from the public sphere [59], and trafficking [60].

A Ghanaian survey found that 33% of women have a history of physical partner abuse and a similar proportion have suffered sexual abuse [4]. The 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) found that 58% and 42.8% respectively of ever-married women have suffered physical and sexual violence by a current or former husband/partner [61]. Further, of the 161 ever-married women included in the 2008 DHS from the northern region 44.5%, 21.6%, and 2.1% respectively reported emotional, physical, and sexual violence by a current husband/partner.

2.3.2 Root Causes of Gender Base Violence

Cultural explanations of DV have referred to some existing norms and traditional gender roles that create platforms for VAW in Ghana. The status of women in Ghana is determined by traditional values, cultural norms, and gender socialization and patriarchy, which tend to discriminate against girls and women. Studies document various forms of abuse among women as consequences of social acts based on discrimination [62, 63]. Their situation is characterized by pervasive poverty, illiteracy, widowhood, predominantly rural dwelling, and subjection to insidious cultural practices and superstitious beliefs [64].

Ghanaian culture demand that women not only be submissive to their husbands, but also be respectful, submissive and serviceable to the extent that revolting against or challenging abuse may be interpreted as attempting to subvert the authority of the man [7].

[...]