All
Rights Matter, Women’s Rights Online In Ghana Matter
By
Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath
 |
| MFWA LOGO |
There
are several African proverbs that extol the values of women. Yet, more often
than not, society stereotypes women in negative light. For example, an Ethiopian
proverb says: “A house without a woman is like a barn without cows.” Another Ghanaian
proverb reminds us: “A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband, the fence
around it”.
The object of this article is not
about African proverbs but to bring to the fore, an important baseline report
on women’s rights online issues in Ghana, which was published on the Media Foundation
for West Africa’s website
(MFWA) in December 2017.
Further, some suggestions will be
made for the attention of stakeholders to address some identified challenges to
improve women’s participation in Ghana’s cyber space. If Ghana and for that
matter Africa is to make progress technologically in this twenty first century,
women and girls’ issues, especially in the area of information and
communications technologies (ICTs) ought not to be relegated to the background.
Ghana cannot be said to be an
island on its own regarding socio-economic, political and cultural issues
affecting women globally. Thus, before touching on women’s rights online issues
in the country, it is relevant to take a quick glance at a global report on
women’s rights online that was published by the World Wide Web Foundation in October
2015. This report could also be accessed on their site. https://webfoundation.org/our-work/projects/womens-rights-online/
The preamble of that global
report states: “A newly adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals included an
important pledge to harness information and communications technologies (ICTs)
to advance women’s empowerment, and a commitment to connect everyone in Least Developed
Countries to the Internet by 2020.”
However, since that declaration,
the report lamented that with just about two years to that deadline, the
“digital divide” between women and men in the use of the Internet and other
ICTs was nothing to write home about.
According to the report, out of
nine cities across nine developing countries sampled, it was found that extreme
inequalities in digital empowerment “seem to parallel wider societal
disparities.” In other words, “women are about 50% less likely to be connected
than men in the same age group with similar levels of education and household
income.”
Having casually read that global
report on women’s right issues online, this writer regretted that Accra the
capital city of Ghana was not included in the nine cities selected for the
research. The sampled cities included, Yaoundé, Cameroon; Bogota, Columbia; New
Delhi, India; Jakarta, Indonesia and Nairobi, Kenya.
The others were Maputo,
Mozambique; Lagos, Nigeria; Manila, Philippines and Kampala, Uganda. The report
did not seem to have specified the criteria used in the selection of sampled
cities and countries.
However, I feel pacified that MFWA, based in
my country, took the initiative and conducted their own study about women’s
rights online issues in Ghana, which is now the subject for discussion in this
write up. I think the women’s rights group within MFWA that undertook the
baseline study deserves a round of applause.
On a more serious note, shall we now
highlight the findings of the baseline study on women’s rights issues in Ghana?
In the executive summary of the report as published on the Foundation’s site, a
point was underscored that gender inequality in Ghana was a pervasive matter. For
that reason, certain sections of the country’s leadership, especially among
human rights activists, feminists, academics, media and other well-meaning
Ghanaians, with the interest of under-represented groups (mostly women at heart,
have been making efforts to reverse the trends).
It was noted that, traditionally,
efforts to close ‘gendered’ gaps in Ghana have rested on public education
intended to highlight the need to give women equal or similar opportunities as
men. However, in spite of the efforts being made, some challenges were also being
encountered due to certain cultural and social beliefs and practices; levels of
illiteracy among the populace and a general unawareness about ‘gendered
inequality issues.”
This author was highly impressed
to note that it was the realisation by the Media Foundation for West Africa that
the internet has the potential to bridge the “digital divide” between men and
women, but still remains ‘unexplored terrain’ that prompted them to embark on
this baseline study project. In other
words, it dawned on MFWA that many Ghanaian women and girls were being denied
the opportunity to access the use of the Internet for economic gains and
self-development due to affordability and technical knowhow.
Furthermore, it was realised that
even the few women who actually have access to the Internet are at “risk of
harassment” as their rights online are not guaranteed. For example, some women,
if not all who go online tend to experience the same ‘patriarchal and
misogynistic’ attacks they encounter offline. This explains why the title of the report or
the topic for the study was WOMEN’S RIGHTS ONLINE ISSUES IN GHANA.
Like the Global Report of Women’s
Rights Online of the World Wide Web Foundation, alluded to above, the Baseline
Report of the Media Foundation for West Africa also sampled and interviewed
women’s rights groups and government Ministries and Agencies (MDAs) on a range
of issues concerning women’s access to and use of the internet as well as
policy interventions intended to protect the rights of women online.
Objectives
Basically, the objectives of the
study among others were to map out practices and prevailing issues that impact
women’s rights online in Ghana; assess interventions by government and women’s
organisations to advance women’s rights online in the country; and to make
recommendations on the way forward for improving women’s online in Ghana.
Methodology
It is conventional that any
scientific research should indicate the method used for data collection,
analysis and findings before drawing a conclusion. In that regard, I was
curious to ascertain the methodology employed by the MFWA to arrive at their
conclusion.
Indeed, the Foundation adopted a
mixed approach to gather data from their respondents to achieve the objectives of
this crucial study. Besides a survey and in-depth interviews to obtain relevant
data from their identified stakeholder groups, in terms of qualitative data, the
researchers also employed some basic quantitative methods that allowed for
numerical data to determine how widespread the issues of online harassments
were confronting our mothers, wives, aunties, sisters and mothers-in-law in
this country of Freedom and Justice.
Essentially, for the survey, the
cluster sampling technique was used to select 60 female respondents from three
clusters including students, formal and informal sectors of the economy in the
city of Accra. From the formal sector for instance, respondents included women
in financial institutions, government institutions, hospitals, and media
organisations. Of course, this makes sense because these are the work places
where most working ladies/women would be expected to have easy access to Internet
use. At least, the question of affordability would not be a big deal; unless
such institutions do not have official computers and Internet connectivity.
For the informal sector,
respondents were made up of head potters, popularly known as ‘kayayee’ in Accra;
market women, seamstresses, hairdressers, food venders and shop attendants
talked to or interviewed. Naturally, in Ghana, and I suppose in many other
developing cities in Africa, these are the categories of women who largely
constitute the backbone of informal economies. Yet, they are the most digitally
deprived, maginalised or completely ignored by the powers that be.
Again, the report explains that
students who were selected for the study were from both private and public
tertiary institutions. It would be unpardonable if the researchers of the study
had ignored the students of private tertiary institutions in this study. For example, experience has shown that in
Ghana, some private tertiary institutions are better equipped with the state of
the arts computer labs with well-resourced Internet faculties than some public
ones. Thus, it is commendable that they were not sidelined in this research.
Further explanation was given that
a questionnaire was used to ‘extrapolate’ quantitative responses from the 60
female respondents. That interview sessions were held with five ladies/women,
five women’s rights organisations, two government ministries and one government
agency were recorded; and these interviews were later transcribed and analysed
thematically.
Findings
Demographically, the report
contains a comprehensive table that tabulated information on survey
respondents, which could not be reproduced in this article for obvious reasons.
Thus, it is recommended that the reader visit the MFWA’s site linked above for
details. Suffices it to say that, of the 60 female respondents selected were between
the ages of 18 and 50 years and above. They were a mixed basket of those with
no formal education, six; those with primary education, 12; Junior High graduates,
three; Senior High, four; and Tertiary, 35. The others included single women,
31; married, 21; widow, two; and divorced, six.
In terms of access to Internet,
the report indicates that women’s ability to access the Internet was largely
linked to the type of mobile phone device they used. It was found that, even
though all the 60 respondents owned mobile phones, eleven of them did not have Internet
access because their phones did not support Internet services. (In our local
parlance, their phones would haven been referred to as ‘yams’ sarcastically, though).
Thus, the remaining 49 respondents
had mobile phones, which supported internet services and so had access in terms
of being able to go online and use internet applications and social media
platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and web browsers. By implication, this
writer should not be mistaken to opine that most of these 49 ladies/women with
smart phones were those who were encountering harassments online.
Again, the study reveals that the
level of women’s education greatly determines whether women had Internet or
not. As a result, it was realised that women who had tertiary education tended
to have higher and usage of Internet services (60%). So, by implication, it
could be assumed that the higher a woman’s education the higher her risk of
being subjected to online harassments. Why should this be the case? If this is
not men’s chauvinism against women, then I don’t know what it is. How many
highly educated men are harassed online?
Interestingly, the study also
establishes that younger women respondents between the ages of 18-30 (53%) were
likely to have access to the internet more than older women; this was followed
by women between 31-40 years of age (23%) were also likely to have access and
utilise internet services more than those above that age group.
Reasons
why Women Use the Internet
This author was more fascinated
by the reasons why women in Ghana use the Internet as revealed by the MFWA’s
baseline study. It was found out that the most frequently cited reason for using
Internet among respondents was to enable them stay connected with family,
friends and acquaintances. For example, one respondent interviewed stated: “I
speak with my sister abroad on Viber… aside making online calls, I hardly do
anything else on the Internet,” she was proud to disclose.
Another lady, according to the
report, pointed out: “I make video calls on WhatsApp and Imo, especially to
keep in touch with some friends outside the country.”
Other reasons cited included
using the Internet for entertainment, education, fashion and income generating
activities respectively. For example, for the entertainment purposes, one
respondent is reported to have affirmed: “ to check for new songs or videos and
sometimes to check on trending celebrities just to know what’s up and to make
sure that ‘me too’ when they are talking I can say some.”
One interviewee, who uses the Internet
for income-generating purposes had this to say: “I go online to read and check
for trending hairstyles so that I can do some for my clients.” Others disclosed
that they use the Internet to search for job vacancies and to apply for jobs
online.”
Challenges
The MFWA’s baseline study has
identified five major challenges affecting women’s access and use of the Internet
in the country. They were 1. unreliable Internet service, 2. high Internet or data costs, 3. lack
of technical knowhow, 4. online safety and 5. security.
However, the most disturbing
challenge, in this writer’s view, which authorities concerned, for that matter
government should give priority attention to is the online safety issues
confronting Ghanaian women.
For example, out of the 60 ladies/women
sampled for this study, 19 of them (39%) lamented that they had experienced
different types of harassments including non-consensual
distribution of their photos/videos online; sexual harassment; cyber stalking;
hate or offensive comment/post directed at them for no apparent reasons
whatsoever most of the time. Why
should women/girls be subjected to these unwarranted cyber mental or physical
tortures?
Unfortunately, the study could not place a finger on any policy interventions or
concrete measures put in place to address women’s harassments online. The report
indicates that most victims of the online abuses themselves did not see the
need to report their abusers. That the few who did chose to confide in family
members or friends who in turn did nothing about the abuses. In fact, the
findings established that “strangely, none of the respondents reported any of
the harassment cases to law enforcement agents like the police. Is it not a
pity?
Recommendations
The study made some
recommendations that cannot be left out in this limited write up. There is need
to bridge the digital divide between men and women. Internet accessibility
should be made more affordable to all, especially women and girls. Conscious
efforts should be made to create awareness about the benefits of the Internet
usage. Consistent public education should undertaken about safety and security
issue of the Internet. Girls in school right from the primary to the tertiary
levels should be encouraged to embrace information and communication
technologies (ICTs). Concrete policy interventions about online protection of women/girls
should be formulated. Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies should be
seen to be more committed to implementing existing policies meant to utilise
ICTs to reduce gender inequality in the country. Just to mention a few.
Suggestions
First of all, it must be
confessed that this MFWA’s baseline study has been an eye opener to this
writer. And to add my little voice to
that of the Foundation, I wish to suggest that all District/Municipal/Metropolitan
Assemblies should set aside a certain percentage of their Common Fund solely
for women and girls’ education in ICTs.
In 2007, this writer was
privileged to be associated with the establishment of Community Information
Centers (CICs) jointly by the then Ministry of Communications and the erstwhile
Ministry of Information and National Orientation with Mrs. Oboshie Sai Cofie as
a sector Minister of Information. The two Ministries then collaborated and
launched two CICs pilot projects at Dodowa in the Greater Accra and Saltpond in
the Central regions respectively. At that time, the Communications Ministry was
responsible for infrastructure, that is, provision of CICs buildings, computers
and Internet connectivity. The Information Ministry was then in charge of
content development and management of the CICs.
The objectives of the CICs among
other things were to give an opportunity to the people in deprived and
maginalised rural communities to have access to computer and Internet connectivity
in their localities. That policy was aimed
at bridging the digital divide between urban and rural dwellers, especially the
youth including school dropped-outs.
I wish to suggest that the
Ministry of Communication which is now solely responsible for the CICs to
consider placing those ICT facilities at the disposal of rural schools to
enable all Ghanaian children, regardless of their geographical locations,
especially the girls to have access to Internet use. This will enable Ghana to
act in accordance with the “newly adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals to
advance women’s empowerment, and a commitment to connect everyone in Least Developed
Countries to the Internet by 2020.”
Conclusion
There is this Ewe proverb that
says: If you cry for your chicken, you should also sympathise with the hawk.” Another one cautions: “If you warn the cat not
to steal, you should also advise “momoni” salty fish to stop smelling.”
As much as unscrupulous men who
abuse women’s rights online are chastised, some women or girls who also take
delight in allowing men to video graph them or take photos of their naked
bodies or even record their sexual activities and post same deliberately online
should be ashamed of themselves. Of course, they have the right to do whatever
they please with their own bodies. But this is one way the abuse of, or sexual
harassments of WOMEN’S RIGHTS ONLINE ISSUES IN GHANA could be stopped or
minimized!
