Commentary

Fighting domestic violence & spousal abuse

By Lennox Akpetey, a Development Communications Analyst

There has been a lot of news about domestic violence in Ghana in recent times with increased media reportage of such events in the country. The prevalence of domestic violence remains unacceptably high with 10-69% of women worldwide being physically assaulted by an intimate male partner at some point in their lives. Statistics in Ghana indicate that 33-37% of women have ever experienced domestic violence. Even in schools, research has shown that 14% and 52% of girls are victims of sexual abuse and gender-based violence respectively.

The facts are that these estimates may be far less than what persists, as violence against women and girls remain largely a hidden problem. God in His infinite wisdom created women as helpmates for men. It has become necessary, therefore, to create awareness of the problem so that it can be addressed. In recent times, some women have lost their lives to domestic and spousal abuses. We cannot sit aloof and allow able-bodied women to lose their lives to beasts masquerading as men.

Recently, there was a report of a Nigerian gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu who suffered spousal abuse and lost her life as result. In the past year, there have been several reports of death resulting from spousal abuse in Ghana.It is a well-known fact that domestic violence is a regular occurrence in Ghana. Women are still very much on the periphery of political, economic and social decision-making and rely most often on decisions made by their male counterparts regarding their lives.

The religious and sociocultural dogmas play significant roles in muzzling women and making them appear subordinates of men. Development Communication strategies aimed at effecting the change in the attitude of men who abuse women must be part of the solution to the problem.Much of Ghana’s fight against domestic violence has been geared towards social, economic, and political systems which could be identified as the basic cause of domestic violence against women. Cultural inhibitions prevent most victims from seeking redress. The families of the couple try to find solutions to the problems. Sometimes it works. Most times the abuse ceases for a time and after a little while, it continues. Studies show that living with domestic violence can cause physical and emotional harm to children and young people in many ways. There are many unreported cases of abuse. A lot of people are suffering in silence. There is a need for stakeholders, and policymakers, to establish a conducive environment, assess risks and opportunities and promote information exchanges to bring about positive social change through sustainable development.

Any gender-based organization should be able to mobilise influential women to speak on the negative effects of domestic violence. The authorities should adopt the use of radio, television, social media, information, education and communication materials such as posters, leaflets, and booklets, in various languages on where to report domestic violence to. It is better to be alive than to be impaired. Children suffer most from domestic violence. They assume that what their parents are going through is normal, and may live with it for the rest of their lives. Victims of domestic violence and spousal abuse must be empowered to speak up when they suffer emotional, sexual, social, financial, physical, as well as spiritual abuse. Abusers must be made to suffer any due punishment for their actions. There should be a partnership with the police, focusing on solving problems instead of reacting to crises. They should make it possible for neighbors to report suspicious activity of domestic violence and spousal abuse without fear of retaliation from the victims and their families. Some feminists Non-Governmental Organizations have helped a lot in assisting victims of domestic violence and spousal abuse.

However, the Gender Ministry, which is the policy-making wing on gender issues should do more on awareness creation, advocacy, and behavioral and social change activities aimed at preventing the acts rather than always reacting after the victims have perished. We can make good use of community radios to drum home the effect of domestic violence and spousal abuse. Develop and share a phone list of local institutions that can provide counselling, job training, guidance, and other services and also that can help neighbors to report acts of domestic violence and spousal abuse. If we spend enough time on television and radio, and social media, we should be able to reduce the canker to its barest minimum.