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Women identified as worse offenders of
child rights abuse
Yendi (N/R), Oct 7, Ghanadot/GNA - Female teachers attending
a workshop on gender and domestic human rights abuse have
identified women as worse violators of child rights, saying
they are mostly responsible for inflicting physical and
psychological pain on children.
They held that these situations are more evident in
polygamous families where women treat the children of their
rivals badly by denying them food and shelter and that in
some cases, women inflict wounds on their domestic
assistants for minor offences.
These were contained in a communiqué issued by the Ghana
National Association Teachers (GNAT) ladies at the close of
a three-day workshop on "Domestic human rights abuse: Using
female teachers as agents and guides".
The workshop was organised by Life Rescue Mission (LRM), an
NGO, to equip female teachers to sensitise their communities
and assist other women to come out of domestic violence.
The German Embassy sponsored the workshop, which was held in
Yendi.
The communiqué stated that women's rights were also abused
because they had no right to decide who should take care of
their children and as a result the children suffer in the
hands of their foster parents.
The participants also identified certain cultural practices
that are inimical to the promotion of rights.
Such bad customs include the general acceptance that men
could marry two sisters and the practice where first male
born of a man is made the sole heir of father's property,
including his wives apart from the biological mother.
The communiqué also noted that the Islamic religion allowed
the male child to inherit 75 percent of the father's
property, leaving only 25 percent to the female child.
It noted that in the events of a husband's death, the widow
is chased out of the matrimonial home after performing
certain rituals over a period of between five months and a
year.
The communiqué therefore called on religious bodies, NGOs
and all stakeholders to collaborate to sensitise the public
on the need to respect women's rights.
It urged women to appreciate the efforts of their fellow
women domestically and at the national level and called for
the representation of women in all sectors of the decision
making process.
Mr. Daniel Borti, Executive Director of LRM, said in nearly
12,000 domestic violence cases recorded by the Domestic
Violence and Victim Support Unit (DVVSU), women featured as
the most victims.
He said his organisation would train queen mothers in twenty
communities to sensitise families and communities against
traditional and cultural practices, which violate the rights
of women and girls.
In a speech read for him, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani,
Yendi District chief Executive, said there was still the
practice of female genital mutilation in the region with
girls aged between 12 and 19 as the most victims.
GNA
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