Verbal attacks on women reprehensible — FIDA-Ghana
The Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana) says it considers the recent scathing and growing verbal attacks on women in public office “discriminatory, reprehensible and contrary to the spirit and letter of the Constitution”.
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A press statement issued by FIDA-Ghana’s President, Ms Joyce Oku, said attacks on the head of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei, the Chief Justice, her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood, and Her Lordship Madam Sophia Akuffo, signalled a society that sought to resort to intimidation to stifle female leaders in public office from the effective execution of their duties.
It said the increasing verbal abuse and threat of reprisal to sexual harassment and rape were targeted at women because they were women, thus such violence was gendered in its form, saying that those abuses stood against the very tenets of the human rights principles enshrined in international human rights treaties that Ghana was signatory to.
Rule of law
The statement said a society that respected and upheld the rule of law ensured that perpetrators of such violent actions were punished to send a strong signal that such impunity would not be condoned to protect the sanctity of the judiciary and finally to assure women that their right to safety and life would not be compromised in the pursuit of their work.
The organisation said: “The law must and should be allowed to work in a burgeoning democracy such as ours, as the dignity and respect of every individual, especially women, is inviolable and no country should compromise on the protection of its citizens.”
The release said: “As much as FIDA-Ghana does not condone mediocrity, we believe women in leadership can be objectively criticised instead of receiving threatening, denigrating and malicious abuses. Ghanaian women, despite their various stations in life, have a right to be protected from such acerbic attacks.”
According to FIDA-Ghana, women in many professions have proved their mettle and expertise and indeed have achieved important milestones which highlight their progress in public and private sector leadership.
Women’s participation
It added that as an organisation which advocated increases in women’s participation in decision making due to the unequal representation of women in public offices, “FIDA-Ghana deems it a slap in the face, and an attempt to reverse the gains that FIDA and other women’s rights organisations have worked so hard to achieve.”
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“Such violent attacks have far-reaching consequences. They tend to demoralise both budding female politicians and seasoned female leaders from participating in public office. They further deny women of their civil and political rights and discourage women from exercising their voice and agency, thus creating a democratic deficit,” it said.
FIDA-Ghana was of the view that “perhaps it is time to call for a national dialogue to interrogate such actions and raise awareness of violence against women in public offices, which is slowly becoming a norm of our politicking”.
It said: “Democracy allows the views and voices of various groups in society to be heard, at the same time it provides a check and limits the infringement of the rights of women. Since women’s rights are human rights, FIDA-Ghana believes Ghana’s democracy must provide the soil on which women’s human rights must grow and blossom.”