The Binding Constraints on Gender Inequality in Ghana

3183 Words13 Pages
Introduction Although biological and physiological characteristics of human beings are the fundamental bases for male and female differences. However, sociocultural beliefs have also created certain gender stereotypes that distinguish males from females. Males and females are placed unequal at every level of social organization in Ghana. For example, women and men are often treated unequally in terms of access to employment, education and social resources. In any of these instances, women are at the disadvantage position in many societies. The maintenance of the status quo regarding gender stereotypes has aggravated the existing gender inequality, entrusting women with less social, economic and political power. The existing gender inequality in Ghana may have also resulted from residuals of colonial cultural practices, during which women were considered socially and politically inferior to their male counterparts. Gender Issues in Ghana Within the Ghanaian traditions, the husband is under an obligation to maintain his wife and children. In return, a wife and her children are obliged to assist the husband and father respectively in his chosen trade or profession, although they do not become joint owners of the acquired property. Likewise, the cultural tradition binds women to work on their husbands farms, but men are often the beneficiaries. In rural Ghanaian societies, Kinship forms the basis of social and economic organization and relationship around which the fabric of social life is woven. Kinship system in many African countries such as Ghana determines those who worship at which shrine, the person who officiate, inheritances, successions and residential patterns and the rules governing the organization and the recruitment into descent groups. The patrilineal system of kinship is to some extent the most common form of social organization in Africa.
Open Document