Key Issues facing Women and Children:

• Equal Access to Education
• HIV/AIDS
• Domestic Violence

Ghana is proud to have been the first Sub-Saharan African country to gain independence in 1957. While Ghana is approximately the size of Oregon, it is home to roughly 23 million people. The efforts of women’s groups such as the Ghana Association for Women’s Welfare has made significant headway in furthering human rights and women in Ghana, yet obstacles still remain.

Active Ghanaian Women’s Organizations such as the International Federation of Women Lawyers, research and advocate for Women’s issues which include equal access to education, equal representation in government, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, domestic violence, and certain cultural practices such as female genitalia mutilation, trokosi (servitude to a fetish shrine), and banishment for witchcraft.

Various ethnic groups still preserve many cultural traditions despite hundreds of years of colonization. However, there is much dispute amongst international human rights and women’s organizations because of the nature of some of these practices. A recent study conducted estimates that 15 to 30 percent of girls and women in northern Ghana are still circumcised. Female Genitalia Mutilation is removal in part or in whole of clitoris or labia minora. It is extremely painful, often performed without anesthetics or sterilized equipment and increases susceptibility to disease, increased pain in childbirth and intercourse, and early death.

Women are more often blamed and banished from communities to remove bad luck or epidemics. Domestic violence and rape is illegal yet not widely enforced, and husbands have immunity from rape charges. Female participation in education also is a key concern. While at the elementary level, girls and boys are equally enrolled, by high school and beyond the ratio of girls to boys is unequal. Despite obstacles to women’s equality and empowerment, a variety of local and international organizations are working hard towards achieving justice and economic success for Ghanian women.