…Thousands
of people Wanna see me, Millions are waiting For the Message, Billions are
dying for the message I am going round the world spreading the message… Don’t
cry baby, don’t cry…
Lucky
Dube: “Don’t Cry”
Alan Paton’s “Cry, the
Beloved Country” (published in 1948) was one in which Reverend Stephen Kumalo
was invited from Ndotsheni to Johannesburg to help his sister who had “fallen
ill”. Gertrude, his sister, had become a prostitute in that sprawling city. He
cried.
We had read Vicky
Wireko’s “Why I Cry for my beloved Ghana” in the Daily Graphic issue of March
16, 2016 in which the lady wrote: “We travel to other countries and participate
in well-planned activities that take months of preparation and commitment. Unfortunately,
no learnings are brought back to transform Ghana”. She cried.
And it came to pass
that Hanna Bissiw who is proud of being black and hairy would not spare
President Nana Akufo-Addo for saying in Canada: “We are not seeing enough
dynamism and activism on the part of those who are seeking to be where
decisions are made… 30% of my Cabinet are women… that’s not good enough…” Nana
Oye Lithur, whose divorce allegations are yet to be proved, lent her support to
Dr. Hannah Bissiw’s diatribes against Nana Akufo-Addo. They yelled.
Of course, Ursula
Owusu Ekuful was handy to match those who practiced “arm-chair feminism” boot
for boot (apologies to JDM). To Ursula, the women’s movement in Ghana is
“dead”. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey became Ursula’s ally. She thought what
President Akufo Addo said was “the truth, unfortunately, we are all playing
politics with it…if we do not act, government will put in all the laws and
nothing will change… So far those who are crying should stop crying and get to
work.”
Throughout history,
women have had to “fight hard” to assert their rights; and to achieve a
semblance of equality. Women have had to show “dynamism” and “activism”. In
Genesis, we read: “Then the LORD God created man in His image from the dust of
the Earth. Seeing that it was not good for man to be alone, he created a woman
from the ribs of a man…” Huh.
In Ancient Greece,
women lacked political rights; there were laws on gender segregation; while
men’s age for marriage was 30, that of women was 14, and women had no legal
personhood being part of the ‘oikos’ (households) headed by the ‘kyrios’
(master). Women, like slaves, were not eligible for full citizenship, even
though we talk of democracy (demos – people; kratos – power). The rules were a
bit more relaxed in Sparta than Athens, and Aristotle thought Spartan women’s
influence led to its ruin. Aristotle thought that women would bring disorder
and evil, and were “utterly useless and caused more confusion than the enemy”
(sorry for the offensive words); so, the women were given home tutorship on
spinning, weaving and cooking. Life for women in Greece changed with the turn
of the 21st Century when Efharis Petridou became the first female
lawyer in 1925. Women gained the right to vote in 1952, and adultery was decriminalized
in 1983. By 2014, the Greek Parliament had 21% women.
Life for women in
Ancient Rome was not very different from that of Greece. Girls were expected to
safeguard their reputation, modesty and chastity. The minimum age of marriage
was 12 for women. Women could not vote or hold public office – with few
exceptions, including Lucretia, Claudia Quinta and Cornelia, mother of the
Gracchi and Fulvia dynasties. Girls dedicated their dolls to Diana the goddess
concerned with girlhood. Emperor Augustus introduced “Lex Papia Poppaea” which
rewarded marriage and childbearing. Daughters and sons were subjected to
‘patria potestas’ the power of the father as head of the ‘familia’ (household).
A daughter kept her own family ‘nomen’ (name) for life, never assuming that of
her husband: A woman could not bring a case to court herself, she had to fall
on a man as an ‘attorney’; Cato the Elder said “…the man who struck his wife or
child, laid violent hands on the holiest of holy things… that it was more
praiseworthy to be a good husband than a good senator.” Roman women were valued
for the number of children they produced, and infanticide was endorsed,
especially for deformed children. Italy (Rome) gave the vote to women in 1945,
whereas France did so in 1944. In the US, universal adult suffrage was given in
1920 after the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and in the UK women
received the vote in 1918 (over 30 years of age with men over 21 years of age).
In Ghana, there have
been some efforts by women to bring about gender equality. It is unthinkable
that any Ghanaian man at this day and age will suppress women – to the extent
of denying them voting rights and participation in politics. In the past, few
women were enrolled in schools. It was in 1960 that the government insisted on
giving all children compulsory education (primary to middle). We are yet to
have a female President, but we have had female Chief Justices. Whereas in
2012, 19 women occupied seats in the 230-seat Parliament, in 2016, they were 36
in the 275-seat Parliament. The judgment in Mensah v Mensah speaks volumes, and
the Domestic Violence Act in 2007 is a pointer.
But we are hemmed in
by our own cultural norms: the traditional belief is that a woman’s home is the
kitchen, and women have inhibitions speaking at political platforms. Any woman
who emerges as a powerful speaker is termed “obaa-akokonini” (a female cock).
Procreation is still the aspiration of almost every woman. Of course the more
western-educated the less child-bearing. Ironically, the poorer the family, the
larger the households. Ghana has signed on to various international goals and
conventions to brighten the chances for women’s rights. There is a Ministry of
Gender, Children and Social Protection to essentially handle women’s affairs
(sorry gender affairs).
There is no need to
“politicize” the issue of women’s rights. We should do better than accept the
dictum: “obaa ton nnyadewa na onnton atuduro” (A woman should sell garden eggs,
not gun powder). Women in politics should have lent their support for Ursula
Owusu Ekuful when she was being molested in Ablekuma West. And when Lydia
Seyram Alhassan won the Ayawaso West Wuogon seat after her husband, Kyeremateng
Agyarko’s death, the women in Parliament should have welcomed her and not
politicized her entry.
Ghana is progressing
steadily on the front of women’s emancipation. They should avoid the temptation
of being their “own enemies”. The first feminine Chief of Staff may be
admonished to play a role in this ensuing “battle” of who said what, and to
whom the President should apologise for what he said in Canada. We need to
focus on bringing back home the “Takoradi girls”.
We got tickled by the
remarks of the Kenyan female MP Millie Odhiambo while defending Esther
Passaris: “…I know some of the men here have up to twenty girlfriends and we
(women legislators) have never questioned you… Leave Esther Passaris alone…
else we (women leaders) will deal with you perpendicularly.” (Not “squarely”?).
Women in Ghana should not leave the grounds for misogynists. It should not be
“paradise lost”; it should rather be “paradise regained”.
Africanus
Owusu – Ansah
The post Don’t Cry, Mother Ghana appeared first on DailyGuide Network.
