Women’s citizenship not taken seriously in Ghana – Prof Takyiwaa Manuh

Former Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof Abena Takyiwaa Manuh, has bemoaned the treatment women generally receive in Ghana.

According to her, though women make up a majority of the country’s population, their citizenship is not taken seriously.

In an interview with Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong on ‘What is Next?’ Prof Manuh noted that women are usually treated as decorations in the country and are usually not given the opportunity to take serious decisions for themselves.

“Women are 51% of this country. Where are they when it comes to taking the serious decisions, where are they when it comes to industry. Women have not been integrated into the mainstream of this country that is why it is easy to present them as marginalised. They are vulnerable, we do things for them. They don’t do things themselves,” she said.

With the issue of witchcraft allegations against women becoming a major topic in the country after the gruesome murder of a 90-year-old woman at Kafaba in the Savannah region, Prof Manuh noted that giving women equal education and career opportunities will help end the witchcraft accusations against many vulnerable women in the country.

“If I didn’t have the opportunity, I’m 68, somebody could tag me as a witch. Nobody will dare call me a witch in my family or anywhere else. This is what happens when women are poor, uneducated, widows, women without children, they are the ones who become the witches.”

Prof Takyiwa Manuh believes the tagging of women as witches and their subsequent maltreatment will end if perpetrators are prosecuted and duly punished.