Husbands now report wives to DOVVSU

The Tema office of the Domestic Violence and Victims Unit (DOVVSU) in 2007 received 120 complaints of misconduct from husbands against their wives while 1,055 wives also reported their husbands.

Offences of the wives were petty quarrels over child maintenance, insults and child dispute while the husbands were also reported for irresponsibility, threats, and causing damage, Police Inspector Stella Dzikunu, Station Officer of the DOVVSU, told the GNA in an interview at Tema.

She said the wives' report was an increase of about 20 percent over that of 2006 while in that year only few husbands lodged complaints.

Ms Dzikunu said the change of name from Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) to DOVVSU as well as the intensification of education had encouraged men to come out in their numbers to report their partners and that previously they felt shy for fear of being teased.

She said the complaints indicated that most of the women were not legally married to their men and this encouraged the men to misbehave as they could not be reported to any family member.

She said women should ensure that they were legally married and properly introduced to their partners' relatives.

The Inspector appealed to women to ensure that they were gainfully employed because financial constraints forced most of them into co-habitating with men against their wishes.