Last night I heard ‘Daddy Stop!’, violence against women still endemic in Accra

Until recently I thought “wife beating” occurred mainly in rural communities amongst illiterate folks and not in urban areas like Accra.

The whole neighbourhood of Nyaniba Estate was deprived of their sleep last night when a scream of a little girl woke us all up, ‘daddy stop, daddy stop!!!!’ was all we kept hearing. As happens in many Ghanaian communities, people both young and old rushed out of their beds, some with towels tied around their waist, others wearing boxer shorts, others with “wrappers”, managed to find their way to the house where the crying was coming from.

The Mrs. of the house was half naked with blood on her body and with puffy eyes. According to the male perpetrator, his wife’s phone rang at about 1.30 am and she picked up the phone to speak with the caller when her husband asked who the caller was, the woman said ‘I will tell you in the morning’. Out of anger the man decided to put his muscles to the test by beating his wife.

My worry and confusion is that this is a well known and ‘respected’ man in society. The personal should be political; we must hold our leaders accountable for their personal lives as well. Our homes are full of ‘boxers’ and lions as husbands. Yet on Monday morning these same men are well dressed in the best of suits and ties. Are these the kind of Managers, Directors and Executives we work with? Mercy Lord!!!!!

So after last night’s incident, I tried to link ‘girlhood’ to womanhood. Is beating and suffering part of womanhood. As a child you were beaten for the slightest mistake. At that stage all you want to do is grow and become an adult, little did you know that even as an adult woman in Africa beating is possible?

All who still think like I used to, that wife beating is the preserve of the ‘illiterate’ should sleep with an ear open and I am sure will hear a cry of another woman being beaten.

We should as young women, be able to smell an abusive relationship a mile away before we get entangled into marriage with partners who may be potentially violent.

Hilda Gorluuh
Programme Assistant
Grants Department, AWDF