Gender
‘Domestic abuse still rife in Upper West amid COVID-19 pandemic’
Whilst frontline workers are battling to save the lives of patients from the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection in the country, some wives in the Upper West Region are also battling their husbands over too much sexual demands as a result of the CODVID-19 stay-home protocol.
The high demand for sex has been fueled by the inability of some men to patronise other women such as commercial sex workers and ‘side chics’ in addition to their wives, due to the fear of contracting the disease in the process, and therefore have to rely solely on their wives for sexual satisfaction.
A Station Officer at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Upper West Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service, Inspector Stella Niabi, who disclosed this at a meeting at Wa said this had led to physical abuse of some of the women who had refused their husbands sex.
Inspector Niabi was speaking at the launch of a Reproductive Health programme dubbed “Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence” (SRHR/SGBV) campaign by a non-governmental organisation, Plan International Ghana, at Wa last week.
The campaign would among other things ensure access to SRHR services as well as protect vulnerable groups, such as women and girls from abuse, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Wives have been sexually abused by their husbands because they denied them access to their bodies after they had had enough of the” stay-home” sex, especially during the lock down because of the fear of contracting the disease, the men say they are unable to patronise other women,” she said.
She stated that most of those cases were treated as civil cases and were resolved through counselling and other negotiation alternatives that had yielded positive results to the satisfaction of the parties.
Inspector Niabi explained that the CODVID-19 break from school had also led to quite a number of teenage pregnancies and sexual abuse of children in the region.
“Most of these teenage pregnancy cases come to us because the victims come to report the men who deny the pregnancies after they have put those innocent girls in the family way,” she said.
Touching on other abuses, the Station Officer said girls had become more vulnerable in the CODVID-19 season as they were over burdened with house chores and other responsibilities whilst their male counterparts idled about.
She explained that the girls were in some cases subjected to beating when they were unable to perform the many responsibilities they were assigned to at home whilst the males went scot free even after doing nothing the whole day.
“We have these and several other reports of abuses at home due to CODVID-19 pandemic, and so we are very grateful to Plan International Ghana for introducing a programme that would cater for these developments,” she added.
On his part, the District Development Coordinator of the Upper West Regional Programme Unit of Plan International Ghana, Mr Kamaldeen Iddrisu, hinted that the rampant media reportage on sexual and gender-based abuse informed their decision as an organisation to introduce a programme to address these issues.
“We have trained some young ladies from Wa, Sissala East, Wa West, Wa East and Sissala West Municipal and District Assemblies on the making of re-usable nose masks as well as sanitary pads to help them earn income in this CODVID-19 season to limit their dependence on men and subsequently limit abuse,” he said.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
Gender equality should not be left to women alone, but requires the active participation of men and other stakeholders, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has said.
She said gender equality was a national development issue and not a matter concerning only women, stressing that both men and women had important roles to play in creating an inclusive society.
Dr Lartey said this last Thursday in Accra at a capacity workshop on the implementation of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024.
The workshop was aimed at helping journalists understand the provisions of the Act, strengthen their capacity to communicate gender equity issues and promote accurate, balance reporting on the implementation of the Act.
Ghana could not achieve meaningful development if one section of society was excluded from participating fully in leadership, decision-making and other areas of national development.
“It is not about a group of people. It is not about one of the sexes. It is about the nation. It is about the country,” she said.
She called for stronger commitment to translating the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024 (Act 1121), into practical action to improve women’s participation in leadership and decision-making.
She said the passage of the law should not be considered the end of the process, but rather the beginning of deliberate efforts to ensure that its objectives were achieved.
Dr Lartey said increasing the number of women in leadership was important, but their participation must also have a meaningful impact on national development.
“We want it to count,” she stressed, calling for practical initiatives that would move the affirmative action agenda from policy to implementation.
The Executive Director of Women, Media and Change (WOMEC), Dr Charity Binka, also urged the media to play a critical role in ensuring the effective implementation of the Act.
She said Ghana had taken an important step by passing the law after 13 years of efforts, but the real test was its implementation.
According to Dr Binka, the Act requires 30 per cent representation of women in leadership and decision-making by 2026, rising to 50 per cent by 2030.
She urged the media to inform the public about the law, monitor institutions’ compliance and challenge stereotypes that undermine women’s leadership.
Dr Binka urged journalists to ensure institutions were complying with requirements, including Gender Equity Policies, Compliance Certificates and annual reports.
She said affirmative action was not about replacing merit with gender, but addressing structural barriers that had historically limited qualified women’s opportunities to participate and lead.
She called for stronger collaboration among government, civil society, traditional and religious leaders, the private sector, the media and other stakeholders to turn the law into measurable results for women and girls.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
The United Nations has warned, that Gender equality is “woefully off track.”
At the current rate of progress, gender equality would take 171 years to achieve, the UN’s Gender Snapshot report said.
The number of countries with a woman as head of state or government has increased from 2020 to 2026. “Yet six in seven countries are still led by men.
Women’s representation in national cabinets declined to 22.4 per cent in 2026, after peaking at 23.3 per cent in 2024,” the report said. “The decline is a warning sign that gains cannot be taken for granted, and that progress towards equal political power remains fragile.”
Funding for gender equality has fallen to its lowest level since 2021, the report found. At the same time, 42 per cent of UN agencies reported that their efforts to promote gender equality had been weakened, as a result of budget cuts.
Millions of women also continued to endure some extremely severe forms of violence and discrimination across the globe, the UN said. Nearly one in five girls is married before the age of 18, and nearly one in three women globally have survived partner or sexual violence in their lifetime.
In the past year, 316 million women experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, the report said.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Li Junhua, said the statistics were not inevitable. “It is the result of choices, made visible through data. Investing in gender equality, institutions, and the statistical systems that hold them to account is not a cost. It is the fastest route back to the 2030 Agenda’s promise of equal power for all.”-GNA
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