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Tarzan's Take: Celebrating Mothers & Oppressing Women

By Myjoyonline.com
General News Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, host of Tarzan's Take.
AUG 9, 2013 LISTEN
Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, host of Tarzan's Take.

With a unique Ministry headed by a committed human rights and gender specialist, is Ghana on the cusp of a new wave of real and substantial progress of not just talking about and passing shelf bound legislation on women's equality emancipation?

Join Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, host of Tarzan's Take on the Joy News channel on Multi TV this Sunday from 7-8pm, as he focusses on the issue of GENDER EQUALITY in Ghana.

This Sunday's edition of Tarzan's Take will attempt to push for strong affirmative action to make men and women equal in deed at all levels of our daily lives.

Below is a commentary for episode 13 of Tarzan's Take this Sunday from 7-8pm on the Joy News channel on Multi TV.


Tarzan's TAKE 13
CELEBRATING MOTHERS & OPPRESSING WOMEN
Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere, whether male or female; single or married; places their mother on the highest pedestal of their regard, respect and affection. We acknowledge and celebrate our mothers for everything good that has happened in our lives, and devote substantial amounts of our time and energies eulogizing our moms in both words and many deeds.

The preeminent position of mothers in our societies is near unanimous in all societies and cultures around the world. Globalization and the flattening of our world view has congregated the recognition and celebration of our mothers into a mega show of uninhibited public outpouring of adulation and celebration dubbed MOTHERS DAY.

However, placing our mothers on the highest pedestals has gone hand in hand with an absurd and highly illogical belief that WOMEN, the gender of our mothers, are necessarily created as INFERIOR APPENDAGES to the MALE species. Unfortunately, this notion is, as grounded in our own traditions and cultural beliefs as they are legitimized and entrenched on the teachings and practices of the two great religions of A CHRSTIANITY & ISLAM.

In the Biblical account of the creation of humankind in Genesis (2: 21-3), Eve or 'woman' was formed from the rib (or 'side') of Adam (that is, 'man. Regrettably, this has been interpreted as biblical evidence to justify the subordination of woman within both Judaism and Christianity; a perception reinforced by the views of the Classical Greek philosophers that the female body was an inferior version of the male body, rather than a separate 'sex'.

Alas these views, which prevailed until the eighteenth century in the West, informed attitudes and treatment of women until the 20th century before women won the right to vote in elections.

The complex relationship between women and Islam is defined by both Islamic texts and the history and culture of the Muslim world. The Quran states that men and women are equal but goes on to suggest that "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to respect the other, and because they spend from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard." Alas there are as many interpretations of the true meaning of the words of the Quran as there are the various practices of the Islamic religion, although it is fair to suggest that the dominant forms if the faith has adopted the “women are inferior and subservient to men” construct.

Women in traditional pre-colonial Ghanaian society were seen as bearers of children, Within the traditional sphere, the childbearing ability of women was explained as the means by which lineage ancestors were allowed to be reborn.( “Obaatan na ) nim de3 ne ba firi”,( the mother as the PROGENITOR ) . Regrettably, and in spite of the tremendous progress of women involvement in all spheres of our life, Ghana has not signed the Convention on the Consent of Women into Marriage, the Minimum Age of Marriage and Registration of Marriage; an omission that suggests that Today's Ghana is still very much rooted in the procreator role of women.


The combination of: 1) traditional customs and norms; and 2) the influence of Islam and Christianity; have reinforced and entrenched the beliefs and practice that our mothers and their gender are indeed lesser beings than men. This unfortunate and unacceptable situation has persisted for nearly all of the 60 years of the modern state of Ghana, in spite of the passage of a plethora of laws and the establishment of a specific Executive political institution to promote and enforce women's equality.

The major issues and concerns for women in Ghana have been identified as encompassing women's low participation in governance, their poor access to resources critical for making a living, their predominance among people living in poverty and women's health, particularly, the unacceptably high rates of maternal mortality. Other concerns include the harmful and discriminatory social practices against women often justified in the name of culture and violence against women. Widows, aged women and single mothers all present gender challenges; as do issues of insecurity, disruption and violence experienced by women in conflict situations.


Women make up more than 50% of Ghana's population. And yet there are only 24 women in the current 275-member House of Parliament. Including the Minister of Gender Affairs (previously titled WOMEN); there are only 18 women in the present Government of 85 Ministers and Deputy Ministers; with 8 as substantive ministers. Only a single Regional Minister is a woman (Eastern Region) and two of 10 Deputy Regional Ministers are women. Representation at the grassroots level fares no better, with so far a minuscule number of 5 women in the 69 MMDCEs appointed so far, out of the total of 215.

A plethora of laws and legislations have been passed as part of the efforts to bring the status of women from subservience to parity with men.

Unfortunately, many of these laws are gathering dust on institutional bookshelves, either lacking the legal instrument for implementation or more seriously, been disregarded with contemptuous disregard or breaches by men without any effective sanctions.

From Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), to rising cases of Domestic Violence against Women; From TROKOSI to the humiliation and denial of entitlements of WIDOWS; From refusal by men to pay CHILD SUPPORT to preferential treatment of BOYS by fathers; From the suppression of WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT in the work place, to the PITIABLE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN in public and political office; the subservience and second class position of women to men has remained largely intact in Ghana, despite our subscription to international conventions and the many years civil society activism.

With a unique Ministry headed by a committed human rights and gender specialist, is Ghana on the cusp of a new wave of real and substantial progress of not just talking about and passing shelf bound legislation on women's equality emancipation; but one that pushes for strong AFFIRMATIVE ACTION to make MEN & WOMEN EQUAL IN DEED AT ALL LEVELS OF OUR DAILY LIVES.

It is when we have achieved GENDER PARTIY that the Ghanaian man can justifiably continue to celebrate His mothers as the pinnacle of His affection, love and respect. MOTHERS DAY will then become both a PERSONAL THANKS TO OUR MOTHERS AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE GHANAIAN WOMEN AS EQUAL TO THE MEN AT ALL TIMES.

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