As a result the spouse has to perform the final rite to ensure two things. Widows in third world nations rituals, burial, body. Ghana is located on the south coast of west african encompassing. It is noteworthy that ghana is the only country in the world that has attempted to eliminate degrading and harmful widows mourning rites by legislation. An elderly person of good moral standard is chosen to. Widowhood practices among the akan of ghana yesterday and today. The other hundred is a unique photobook project aimed as a counterpoint to the forbes 100 and other media rich lists by telling the stories of people around the world who are not rich but who deserve to be celebrated its 100 photostories move beyond the stereotypes and cliches that fill so much of the worlds media to explore the lives of people whose aspirations and achievements are at. Wicked widowhood practices that must be abolished in nigeria. Assistant professor lucky eboh and thomas boye from the university of makerere in ghana in an article titled widowhood in african society and its effects on womens health tackled at length the oppressive and humiliating practices women face as a result of the death of their husbands.
She must discard self pity and explore avenues for survival. The politics of widowhood and remarriage among the luo of. Tradenet interfaces gcms to all stakeholders by exchanging edi files. On the same day, she perform the semipurification rites by taking her bath around 4.
These include violations of their property rights, coercive subjection to the observance of customarily genderedthe observance of customarily genderedconstructed ritesritesofofpassage widowhood rites passage widowhood rites kunadiekunadie. It must be pointed out that, the practice of widowhood rite is not only. India edit until the early 19th century it was considered honourable in some parts of india for a hindu widow to immolate herself on her late husbands funeral pyre. Next, this paper introduces the topic of widow cleansing and the tension between the international and. Agonies of widows hit by harsh nigerian traditions. Although this situ ation exists in almost all parts, it is particularly prevalen t in the rural communities. In africa, one constant feature is widows disproportionate exclusion from property ownership. Effects of widowhood rites on the psychosocial wellbeing of. Customary practices of widowhood and widowhood rites also impose special hardships and vulnerabilities on women. The widow was given a pair of split calabash in which she was to eat and drink from and was not to wash hands before or after meals. The types of cultural rites and ordeals which akan women used to go through at the death of. Widowhood is a transition period which the widow enters via rituals of separation and comes out via rites of reintegration. The silent victims article pdf available in international journal of social welfare 1. The description is based on research conducted by pauw, published in 1990, and confirmed by other researchers in some other african contexts.
In this study there is a kind of imbalance in the performance of widowhood rites in the ghanaian society. The widow is not expected to receive condolence visits from sympathisers during the period of mourning, she is to be remarried by a relative of the late husband, she is to sit on the floor or be naked during any period of the husbands burial rite, weep and wail loudly at intervals, she must remain in confinement after the death of the husband. The present study was conducted to find out the effect of widowhood rites on the psychosocial well being of widows in nadowli district of the upper west region ghana. Firstly, it presents the pertinent background and historical context of the issue of violence against women. The state of having lost ones spouse to death is termed widowhood.
The rite of mourning the demise of a husband in nigeria has for a very long time been taken to the extreme by the relatives of the dearly departed either because they have plans of punishing the. The tension indifferent meaning of widow cleansing is readily apparent in the discourse. As soon as the woman becomes a half widow, her status in the family is reduced to a maid and in most cases, she. Witchcraft, widowhood rites and female genital mutilation fgm have been identified as top three. The extreme restrictions on widows mobility and lifestyles breaches all articles of the convention.
Policy response to widowhood rites among the awori of ogun. The 1989 amendment to the penal code criminalises the acts of any person who compels a widow to undergo any custom or practice that is cruel, immoral, or grossly indecent. Women who undergo such rites are subjected to mental, physical, and emotional torture, accused of killing their husbands, and most of the times stripped naked and humiliated at the market square. Inability to make decisionsor making a series of bad decisions because concentration is too difficult. Widowhood rituals and widow inheritance in the balikumbat. These widows find themselves in 75 different ethnic groups, most of which discriminate against widows. Pdf ghanaian akan womens experiences of widowhood and. Pretoria university law press pulp the pretoria university law press pulp is a publisher at the faculty of law, university of pretoria, south africa. If youre having trouble moving through the grief process, seek help. The widows mourning of her deceased spouse is a special period, characterized by a cycle of practices. Widows in third world nations have the potential to play a crucial role in the future of their societies and the development of peace, democracy, and justice, yet their basic needs and their valuable contributions are mostly ignored. Pdf effects of widowhood rites on the psychosocial wellbeing.
Widowerhood definition is the fact or state of being a widower. The department of international environment and development. Furthermore, with the current source of hiv and aids in africa, debates about the rights and entitlements of widows take on new meaning. Jan 03, 2015 a widow from the hikpo region in ghana and member of wane widows alliance network is participating in the fourth national widows alliance conference in ghanas capital, accra. Gcms enables customs to perform all necessary customsrelated processing. Widowhood rite is one of the ritesofpassage an akan woman goes. African traditional widowhood rites and their benefits andor. A customs management software called gcms ghana customs management system b an electronic data interchange platform called tradenet. Separation from the husbandwife in the spiritual realm. Some of these rites include cruel and degrading treatment. Many women in several nigerian communities dread the experience of widowhood.
Most of these rites are meant to cleanse the widow. The fact that these practices are interpreted as being founded on the prevailing traditions of the people poses a bigger problem. The second stage of mourning begins at the end of the seventh day. He was also capped for ghana, and was a squad member in the 1992 african cup of nations and the 1997 korea cup. Widowhood rites performed by the akan people, particularly for chiefs and subchiefs. A further reason for shaving the hair is the beiief that it is a symbol of breaking off all links between the widow and the deceased husband. Widowhood rites performed by the akan people, particularly for chiefs and. In igbo society, women either married, unmarried or widowed are being tossed up and down.
Ghanaian widows are routinely accused by the community of having caused the death of their husband, or even of literally. Patriarchy, marriage and the rights of widows in nigeria. Going through the rites taught me many things which i learned from the women who took care of me through the widowhood rites. Widowerhood definition of widowerhood by merriamwebster.
In many traditional communities of developing countries especially in africa, widowhood represents a social death for women. Ethnic ga family names surnames such as tagoe, dodoo, lartey, nortey, aryee, poku, lamptey, tetteh, ankrah, tetteyfio. Other widowhood rites performed by the awori widow include, sitting on a mat, wearing of dark clothingaccessories during the widowhood peri od, observance of vigil on the eight day, taking of special bath, and disposal of all items used at the expiration of the confi nement period to mention a few. Section six is the data presentation which includes data analysis and discussion of findings and the last section concludes the study. Widowhood rites the ga believe that in everything there is a spiritual and a physical element. Policy response to widowhood rites among the awori of. This is not just because of the pain arising from the loss of ones husband, but more so, as a result of the numerous dehumanising rituals and practices associated with widowhood. Widowhood rites still rife in northern regions modern ghana. The body of my husband was yet to be put in the mortuary when the brother took me to another room and asked about the documents of the house, insisting that i had to leave. A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. Widows in third world nations rituals, burial, body, life. We are a nonprofit organisation focused on helping alleviate the plight of widows and orphans in the northern region of ghana. The plight of widowhood in africa the times group malawi. May 25, 2018 news ghana is ghana s leading online news portal for business in west africa and around the world.
There are 823,562 widowed persons in ghana out of a population of about 24,000,000. Pdf outmoded cultural practices and its effects on. Within the akan lineage in ghana, women may inherit property only through men, typically. The government should be asked to clarify what its efforts are, in. The widow must learn to define, describe and discuss her own experience just as it occurs to her the way virginia woolf prescribes in modern fiction 1925 the widow must recognize her alma of being and her needs. Rather, those practices have been regarded as part of the customs and traditions of the people.
Ghanaian akan womens experiences of widowhood and property. Documents earlier than 2003 may be found only on refworld. Mar 05, 20 welcome to the official website of the widows and orphans movement. It also sought to find out why widowhood rites persist in spite of ghana being a signatory.
The impact of widowhood rite on the ghanaian woman in the. Also, a widow 1s made to shave in order to look unattractive, so that men would not eye her for love in. The issue of widowhood rites, which has been described as one of the most dehumanising, uncivilised and negative cultural practices in the world, due to its associated violation of the rights of women, is still rife in some parts of the three northern regions of ghana. He played for hearts of oak in ghana, except for the 199495 season at sportul studen. Wicked widowhood practices that must be abolished in. The ewes use a system of giving the first name of a child as the day of the week that the child was born. Where progress has been made, it is due to widows working together in an association. A widow from a rural area described a positive experience. During widowhood rites, women are vulnerable to abuse especially by members of their husbands families, who typically care for them during the rites. Widowhood practices among the akan of ghanayesterday and today. Widow inheritance also known as bride inheritance is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother.
The gadangmes are one ethnic group that lives primarily in the greater accra of ghana. The paper argues that widows form a significant proportion of the awori population, yet, much is not known about their plight nor policy response to the practice of widowhood rites and its associated challenges among the study group. Effects of widowhood rites on the psychosocial wellbeing of women in nadowli district upperwest regionghana. Agonies of widows hit by harsh nigerian traditions vanguard. Yet, there has been little critical analysis of such inequalities, especially on widowabuse and violations of their property rights. This does not apply to the ethnic groups in the north of ghana where. The naming ceremony among the ewes a tribe in ghana from the volta region is known as vinehedego.
Unhcr is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Augustine abbey, also known as idikoko, is a ghanaian actor and movie maker known for comedy. The widow smears herself and her clothing with black charcoal and remains so for three months. The ga and dangbe people are grouped respectively as part of the gadangme ethnolinguistic group. It also sought to find out why widowhood rites persist in spite of ghana being a signatory to many human rights instruments. Ghanaian akan womens experiences of widowhood and property rights. The politics of widowhood and remarriage among the luo of kenya 169 hardly seen as fully natural, and just as in west africa, when the death is of a young person, all restraints are thrown overboard and explanation sought in witchcraft, juju or bad medicine sossou 2002. Governance and human rights in twentyfirst century africa published by. Some african widowhood rites in the phokwane area this section describes some of the widowhood rites in the phokwane area of limpopo. The impact of widowhood rite on the ghanaian woman in the new. May 25, 2018 20180525 about 40 selected youth from three districts in the upper east region have been given community journalism training by media practitioners to identify and report on dehumanising.
African traditional widowhood rites and their benefits and. Widow cleansing is predominantly considered, by the. Enlarge emelia asieduwaa, a widow from the hikpo region of ghana. Ghanaian youth challenged to stand against widowhood rites.
952 1478 516 1344 1105 565 1135 1189 1033 1402 610 24 390 222 446 664 753 247 224 1338 332 1481 718 1248 1192 1431 871 1013 501 960 82 1 1027 665 1194 1461 964 1220 952 1376 1422 581