Research Indicates Widows In Northern Region Suffer Abuse

A study has found that widows in the Bole and Sawla/Tuna/Kalba districts of the Northern Region are subjected to abuse and labelled as witches, thieves, prostitutes or murderers when they fail to follow traditionally prescribed widowhood rites.

The study said widowhood rites in the two districts spanned for up to four months when the deceased husband must have been buried adding failure to duly follow the rites meant that the widow knew something about her husband's demise hence the abuses on her.

The study was conducted from June to July this year by Jaksally Youth Group, a non-governmental organization, and the findings of which were made available to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Tuesday.

It formed part of widow 1 (W1-JYG, 31-102) PHASEIII advocacy action supported by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and its development partners DANIDA, European Union (EU) and the USAID.

The study called for poverty alleviation measures such as income generating activities to improve the welfare of widows.

It said there is the need for concerted efforts from stakeholders to assist widows with sustainable livelihood programmes aimed at economically empowering the poor and the marginalized in society.

The study also recommended the need for the abolishment of some abusive outmoded cultural practices and to strengthen the Social Inclusion and Gender Equality (SIGE) for affected persons as well as building the confidence of widows.

It said there is a need for government to collaborate with civil society organizations and development agencies to orient duty bearers on available laws and policies and operational concepts to build their capacity to approach inimical issues of development in various societies.

The study said 'there should be a social security system that would cater for women in informal employment to help women and widows prepare for the unseen.'

It said there is the need to establish small to medium scale enterprises to create savings and credit societies where groups of people would come together and contribute money for lending to each other.