Lecturer at the faculty of Law at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Dr Kwaku Anane-Gyinde, has stated that women in Ghana are endangered species compared to men.
His comments follow revelations by the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Mr. Isaac Ken Yeboah, that a staggering number of women report rape cases annually.
Speaking at the inauguration of an interviewing room for people who suffer domestic and gender-based violence (GBV) for the Madina DOVVSU, Mr Yeboah disclosed that about 15,000 cases of violence against women were reported to law enforcement agencies annually.
Also, statistics available at DOVVSU of the Ghana Police Service indicate that 1,047 girls were defiled, while 305 women were raped in 2020.
Commenting on this, Dr. Kwaku Anane-Gyinde noted that women have been endangered in the country due to societal norms and orientation about women.
"Our country Ghana, we have been very violent towards women. The way we bring our children up, the way we socialise our children, the way we tell them as for women is this, as for women, they have to stay at the back, they don't have to listen, this is another form of violence.
"One important form of violence is childbirth...after they [women] have given birth, how do we protect them? Students [women] come to school after three months of giving birth...If we as a country we do not protect women, some of these things are bound to happen," he said.
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Speaking on GTV's Breakfast Show on December 13, 2021, Dr. Kwaku Anane-Gyinde added that women are often victimised and denied justice as a result of interferences in the society.
"When some of these cases are reported, we have these traditional rulers going in. No!, criminal cases are not handled in the traditional council or at the chief's palace because criminal cases are cases against the state. It is not against the individual.
"Criminal cases, people want to intervene; pastors, the priest, traditional rulers, abusuapanin and so called influence peddlers but most of them know that this is criminal and as such nobody should intervene. This is what is giving them the impudence and encouraging them to engage in these criminal activities", Dr Anane-Gyinde added.
Dr. Anane-Gyinde further implored Ghanaian female politicians to advocate for the rights of women in the country.