Strengthening social structures for protecting women’s rights among the Kassena of Northern Ghana

Abstract

Women’s human rights abuse has become an issue of global concern. It is estimated that one in three women worldwide has been abused physically, emotionally and psychologically in her lifetime. Evidence on the extent to which socio-cultural structures support the human rights abuse of women or protect against them has been sparse and general. Available data often name and describe various forms of abuse but hardly detail out the specific and structured form of the abuse. Using the Kassena of Northern Ghana as a case study, this paper investigates the incidence of women’s human rights abuses among a specific cultural setting. Personal interviews, desk reviews and participant observation methods were used to obtain empirical data for the analyses. Key findings reveal high incidence of women’s rights abuse, changing nature of the abuse and factors accounting for the situation. It also reveals that there are some structures, civil and traditional, in place for protecting women but these are weak and ineffective. The paper concludes that in order to protect women’s rights among the Kassena, there is the need to adopt an integrated approach, which blends civil and traditional strategies for dealing with the human rights violation of women.

KEY DESCRIPTORS: Women`s Human Rights, Cultural Practices, Social Structures, The Kassena, Gender-Based Violence