2016 Germany essay contest winner
THE GHANIAN WOMAN'S QUEST FOR EQUALITY
by Benedicta Anning
Never have I ever been so fundamentally shocked by a statement from a human than when a well-educated Ghanaian man who is currently pursuing his Ph.D. told me during a discussion on gender roles that “women are nothing but birth – giving machines”. Although I currently live in Germany, I am of Ghanaian descent and that is why I find it important to address the biggest challenge facing girls and women of my home country. The twenty-first century has seen a lot of improvement in the Ghanaian history when it comes to issues regarding women in Ghana. Ghanaian women are attaining higher education and occupying more and more leadership positions, which is very commendable yet there is no doubt that girls and women in Ghana are still facing inestimable challenges in the present age, the biggest of all being the quest for equality. Gone are the days in Ghana when women had no choice but to settle for the fact that their sole purpose on earth was to get married, be very submissive to their husbands, heed to every word they commanded them and bear them as many offsprings as possible. Gone are the days when women had absolutely no say in matters concerning the development of the country, when girl child education was assumed to be an abomination and any girl who dared to pursue western education was regarded as nothing but a disgrace to her family and the community as a whole. Gone are those days, yet the aftermath of this way of thinking, even after so many years, continues to linger in the everyday life of the average Ghanaian girl or woman. Although it may be written in the nation’s constitution that everybody, irrespective of gender should be treated equally in all aspects of life, equality is still far from being a reality in the Ghanaian society.
Women are still perceived and treated as subordinates to men and this is why the majority of women from all over Ghana are struggling to nullify the prejudiced notion of women being viewed as just baby-makers, cooks and housewives. Since people do not want to see women doing things they do not think women should do, Ghanaian girls and women are still striving to prove that they are way better than what they are originally thought to be, that they are capable of much more than what society has limited them to. Therefore they are trying to gain the due respect which they very much so deserve. Girls and women want the opportunity to prove their worth and that is when girls or female education comes in.
As was mentioned before, girls and women in Ghana are attaining high positions in aspects such as business, education and political sectors and even hold numerous leadership positions in the country, but not even this deters people of the Ghanaian society from viewing women as inferior to men. An example will be a story a friend shared with me about an experience she has encountered quite a few number of times, where people asked her which course she is offering at the university. Anytime she answered that she was offering biology the people tend to look amazed and made comments like “a lady offering biology, wow!”. In a world where we currently have a vast amount of female doctors, engineers and even female presidents, and in a country which has a considerable amount of female Members of Parliament and a female as the Chief Justice of its Supreme court, a woman studying biology should not come off as a surprise but it still does as is in the case of my friend’s experience. This is just one of many. This goes to show that both women and girls are underestimated in the Ghanaian society because apparently women are not “brave” and “clever” enough to study courses which are considered “high” by Ghanaians and even “higher” when the course has got something to do with science. In many ways women and girls in Ghana are limited by societal boundaries. In comparison, men have numerous cultural rights to autonomy and social freedom than women. The Ghanaian community has its own sentiments on how the Ghanaian girl or woman should live her life, Be it the way of dressing, how to act in public or certain situations, career choices or sometimes even on which level of education can be acquired by a woman.
Many times, one will hear from a person that a woman should not gain many academic degrees because it will be a so called “turn off” for her potential suitors. In modern-day Ghana, a lot of parents encourage their daughters to pursue higher education but when they reach a certain age these same parents would rather have it that their daughters gets married than continue with their educational pursue. It is a common practice that women get married at a certain age, start their own family and keep up the house, whereas men have the freedom to decide whether they want to get married and if so when they want to get married. Men on the other hand can also study and pursue as many academic degrees as they want to without getting any judgmental comments on how their academic achievements will prevent women from marrying them. The pressure created by the Ghanaian culture for females to have a family is ridiculous. An average Ghanaian family would rather have the pride of having a wedded daughter than a Ph.D. holding bachelorette. In every aspect of the Ghanaian life, one can see that girls and women are measured inferior to men and are still never given the same chances as them. Sexist and discriminatory customs still prevail in the daily Ghanaian life. Just like teenagers may be convinced to do something such as illegal drugs, which they might not actually want to do, but which they consider “essential” to keep a positive relationship with other people such as their fellow peers, so do women and girls similarly conform to societal rules which in the end may not even be in their favor.
This limits the chances of Ghanaian females, especially when they genuinely have so much potential in them but are restricted in their efforts to put them to good use.
Inequality has become a significant challenge that is threatening the nation’s future capabilities. In his letter “De Profundis”, Oscar Wilde wrote, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinion…”. Ghanaian females grow up in a cultural setting where they do things expected of them for recognition and not for personal fulfillment. That’s why I think Oscar Wilde’s quote perfectly describes the impact of inequality and gender prejudices against females. Most Ghanaian girls and women live their lives to fit into the preconceived image of the society on how women should live their lives. Inequality for me can be just as dangerous as mental manipulation. Decades or even centuries of sexism and traditional gender roles stereotypes have rendered women always being led to conform to the expectation of others. Society hates and often will make the life of an oddball difficult for her non-conforming ideas. Young Ghanaian girls and women often care about what society will think of their opinions and choices, thus they mostly end up making the wrong choices which conform to societal standards. There are many women from my country who have big dreams they would like to achieve. Unfortunately, most of these dreams end up remaining dreams because they might not be the classical Ghanaian view on what a lady should achieve or as a Ghanaian may put it “not worthy of a Ghanaian lady.” Many Ghanaian parents dictate the life choices of their daughters when it comes to certain aspects of life, such as choosing a spouse or making career choices. Parents would rather force their daughters to take career paths such as engineering, doctors and lawyer which are regarded as “honorable” by the Ghanaian society than let their daughters follow their passions for certain career paths like acting or modeling which may not be considered by the society as befitting careers for a Ghanaian woman, because in a typical Ghanaian Community, families would rather do what they hate and have approval from their neighbors than live an unapproved-from-society-but-fulfillingand-happy-life. Furthermore, most women from my country lack the courage and selfconfidence to stand up for themselves.
Many years of women being regarded as underlings has in one way or the other weakened their spirit and willingness to compete against men. Even in their quest to fight for equality, there’s still a fear of criticism and a fear of disdain lurking in the hearts of girls and women of Ghana. Although women of Ghana live and work in an economic, institutional and legal system that patronizes impartiality and egalitarianism, I suppose that the problems they face are no longer related to the political system of the country. Rather Ghanaian women face problems of acknowledgement from men in the Ghanaian society. These problems throw a light on the effects of superiority and gender stereotypes. Mainly due to cultural practices and beliefs, gender inequality and gender biased discriminations is prevalent in Ghana and hence the need to raise awareness about the disadvantages. It is high time men from the Ghanaian community woke up from the illusion that women exist to serve, make babies and be secondary to men. They need to evolve to deal with the new realities associated with equal coexistence with women and do away with the old ways of thinking and gender stereotypes. Women, when given the chance, are capable of everything that men are capable of. Promoting gender equality and empowerment of women is of benefit not only to the women, but to the country at large.