Underappreciated and Undervalued

There were very few times before I came to Ghana where I found myself fervently defending my gender. Here, it feels like a daily activity. In America, gender equality is generally axiomatic. Here, misogyny seems ubiquitous.

I should have known what to expect when I came to a country where marital rape was only recently made illegal. However, coming from a place where I have been told my whole life that I am equal to a man, that I have endless opportunities, and that I can be anything I want to be, it was hard for me to truly imagine what gender relations would be like in West Africa.

Gender inequality is not entirely related to class and, somewhat surprisingly, extends into academia. During a roundtable lecture that the International Programs Office set up, a male professor was discussing issues surrounding marital rape and infidelity. A group of Ghanaian men behind me snickered and joked while the professor spoke about the problems that plague so many women here.

On a number of occasions, I have heard men laugh at women for answering questions during lecture.

Many (not all, but many) males in Ghana, do not perceive the entrapment of women in social roles as a serious issue. Women are expected to marry, have children, and submit to the will of their husband.

Men often marry young women because they believe that women age faster and men do not want to be seen with an old wife.

Domestic violence and emotional abuse against women is not uncommon. Many Ghanaian women expect that their husbands will be unfaithful—a stereotype that I absolutely believe perpetrates the issue even further.

To me, I think that the worst and most inveterate problem that women in Ghana and other developing countries face is their dependency. While working with the Liberian refugees, it has become very clear to me that women rely desperately on the support of others to survive. This, obviously, poses a huge problem if a husband or provider dies or otherwise becomes unavailable because many women are left with no basis to provide for themselves. However, I think that the biggest problem with dependency is the perceived power a man gains over a woman that enables him to believe that he can abuse her emotionally or physically.

If a woman has no means of financial independence, she often feels as though she has no options but to remain in an undesirable situation. If her husband behaves poorly, for example if he squanders what little money the family makes on alcohol, the woman can’t speak up for fear that her husband will take away the little financial support that he does give her.

This isn’t solely a problem with Ghanaian men. I have heard of a few cases of West African women who are married to Americans who hold their financial prowess over their wives heads while they cheated and behaved incredibly disrespectfully.

Is gender inequality immutable in Ghana? I personally have faith in the new options that are being presented to women here. So, what are women supposed to do to advance their position? The more I hear about microlending the more I believe that it is truly a huge step for both women and the key to advancement in the developing world. Microlending is basically a system where small loans are made to individuals, very often women, so that they can start a small business operation. Some microfinance organizations—such as Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank—make back nearly the entire amount of money that they lend out. And, best of all, the women that they loan to almost always begin to take the first steps towards achieving financial independence.

I’ve informed quite a large number of women I’ve encountered about microlending and have decided to make it one of my goals to provide as many women as I can with the contact information they need to begin the process of filing for a loan.

There are also a number of counseling groups and women’s centers. Many of these programs offer free services. I think it’s a great option for women who are unable to afford private services but could benefit from therapy, a sense of empowerment, and information about the options available to them so that they can move towards independence.

Although I’ve talked a lot about the limits of women in West Africa, there are a few females who are excellent role models. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a woman who beat out a well-known male soccer player to seize presidency of Liberia, is just one example.

Unfortunately, women like Johnson Sirleaf are few and far between. I have always had my mother, a driven and resolute woman, as my role model. I know that there are many other Americans who have strong female figure in their lives and it saddens me to realize that there is a serious lack of that here.

With the empowerment of women, especially the young women that will make up the future generations, and the gradual end of intense male chauvinism, I think that Ghana could advance in leaps and bounds. Although it has already begun to make progress, there is much to work towards. I do not want to be naïve, overstep my bounds, or insinuate that American beliefs about the role of the female must be universal. It is very likely that Ghanaians and Americans may never see eye to eye on gender issues, and that’s ok. These two places are wonderful in their own rights, although they have extremely different cultural views in a number of areas. I just hope that, despite traditional West African culture, women can soon begin to experience some of the freedoms and independence that I take for granted every day.