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Franciska Issaka enthusiastically addresses OU students. Issaka is a women's rights activist from Ghana who has dedicated most of her adult life to improving her hometown and advancing women's rights. Duke Lambert/The Daily |
The majority of African women face discriminatory, dehumanizing derogatory and harmful traditional and cultural practices on a daily basis, women’s rights activist Franciska Issaka said at the opening lecture of the “Women’s Rights Activists Voices from Around the World” Tuesday in the Scholars Room of the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Issaka’s lecture, titled “Realizing Women’s Rights in Africa: The Interface Between Cultural and Universal Rights,” touched on human rights abuses and inequality for women in Africa, but focused primarily on Ghana.
The Women’s Rights Activists Voices From Around the World series continues at 7 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Kerr Auditorium of the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History.
Africa’s history led to a confusing system of laws where cultural rules, which are inherently detrimental to women’s rights, sometimes conflict with government laws, she said.
“Culture contributes to the continued discrimination of women as second-class citizens,” Issaka said.
According to Issaka, in Africa, marriage is about a man acquiring a wife, not about a union between the couple. Women are excluded from the marriage discussion. Men must provide gifts and an expensive dowry to the bride’s family, which makes the women commodities.
Thinking of women as property often results in the husband thinking that he has the right to beat his wife, Issaka said.
Because of the treatment of women in marriage as property, women have had trouble obtaining rights to property. There are many UN declarations requiring that women be allowed to own property, but they aren’t enforced because cultural laws override them, Issaka said.
Women are often forced into marriage when they are as young as six years old. These early marriages also result in many women being forced to drop out of school, Issaka said.
Another inequality in African culture involves widowhood rites, she said. Women often must bear dehumanizing rites if their husband dies. In some cases this involves shaving the widow’s head, stripping her naked, tying a rope around her neck and then confining her in a room without food or water. Afterwards, she is brought out naked and subjected to a ritual bath by the villagers. If she complains, she is beaten, Issaka said.
Elderly women are also victims of abuse, sometimes being banished to witch camps if someone believes that they may be a witch, Issaka said.
Despite the horrors that are allowed to go on, not everything is bad about African culture, she said.
According to Issaka, African culture has strong communal values and a respect for elders. Some places have women chiefs and allow women to own land.
Issaka asked a question near the end of her lecture: “How can we bring it back to what it was, how can we make it right for women?”
The solution can be found to women’s inequality by finding a balance between cultural tradition and government regulation, she said.
“It was a different perspective, one that I hadn’t heard before,” Tyler Nunley, international area studies senior, said. “The idea is not that culture is bad, but that ideas have changed.”
Issaka received a bachelors in geography and economics from the University of Cape Coast. She received her masters in business administration from Durham Business school and taught at the University of Denver, but she doesn’t consider herself a scholar.
“I’m not really an academic ... I have been in the trenches working,” Issaka said.
Issaka was the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development in Ghana between 1988 and 1992. A former elected official and a sub-cabinet member, she is also a human rights and community development activist.
She also founded and serves as director of the non-governmental organization Center for Sustainable Development. She is spending a week in Norman as an activist in residence.
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Wow! I am completely taken aback that this respectable women's rights activist from Ghana (Franciska Isaaka) can make outragious claims like she has...about women rights in the African culture. Africa is still a very big continent with so many different countries and each country has very distinct cultures and traditions. For example, she (Franciska Isaaka) keeps making references to how women are treated in Ghana...and I keep wondering which part of Ghana is is referring to. Because as far as I'm concerned Ghana has a lot of cultures and people-groups. Honestly, these are ridiculous claims...especially when it is coming from a Ghanaian woman with a background in economics, geography and an MBA who when referring to herself says "I'm not really an academic...I have been in the trenches working,"(oklahoma daily, thursday, September 24, 2009, page 2). What does this mean? Could she be admitting to the fact that the topic she picked to discuss; "Realizing Women's Rights in Africa:The Interface Between Cultural and Universal Rights," is far beyond the scope of her expertees? I'm sorry Ms. Franciska Isaaka, it would have been a very educational experience if you talked about the CURRENT, TRUE and MORE REALISTIC disposition and status of women in Ghana or Africa which ever one you are well-informed about and have done a thorough research on. You contradict yourself so much even knowing that you were once the Deputy Minister for local Government and Rural Development in Ghana between 1988 and 1992. Hence, if your claims are true today how did you as a woman ever have that position with the goverment?
Franciska Issaka was one of the most inspiring speakers I've seen lecture at OU. She had such a bright enthusiasm and personable approach to the issues we were talking about. Despite all of the hardships her people must face she taught us that there are many things that we are doing right here on the OU campus to make a difference in their lives. Just by educating ourselves, we are making a better world for all women and men who suffer at the hands of misogynist and dogmatic ideologies.
Way to go Issaka! Thank you for being here with us!
...I still cannot believe Ms. Franciska Isaaka the women's rights activist from Ghana got away with some of her claims about treatment of women in the African culture. Which part of modern day Africa or perhaps modern day Ghana is she really referring to when she says "The majority of African women face discriminatory,dehumanizing deragotory and harmful traditional and cultural practices on a daily basis"(Source The Oklahoma Daily, September 24, 2009, page 1) Wow ! words/phrases like "majority of African women"? "deragotory"? "dehumanizing"? used to refer to African women? Are these her own opinions or her own facts?Or could she have been referring to one small tribe she may know about and some of their tradional HISTORICAL practices? I still cannot deal with such OVER GENERALIZATIONS about such a big continent as Africa or even a country like Ghana with so many different cultures...
I would like to pose a few questions for Ms. Issaka.
After reviewing your credentials it is unclear if you have studied Africana Studies or if you are merely going on your experiences, or rather information that was passed on to you from your elders. May you please clarify for me, which tribe or what country your specifically talking about that marries 6 yr old girls in 2009.
You have made very bold statements about AFRICAN nations,actually the whole continent. These statement are extremely bold in my opinion because in your Native country itself consist of six ethnic groups which may be subdivided into several different groups based on cultural or linguistic differences. So its shocking that you can speak on the behalf of Ghana let alone all 57 countries in Africa.
When I saw this article I was quite interested in reading it but after reading it I became very uninterested. I don't know what emotion you expected to receive from your audience but I am very displeased with your remarks. If you would want to make such statements I believe it is best to give it a time frame, because your audience will be under the impression that your country GHANA has such cruelties occurring. If this is happening in Ghana what have you done there to resolve such issues.
By the way I am also a Ghanaian, which is why your statements are quite unclear and concerning to me.
-Your Ghanaian Sister
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