Ghana’s young women may have a rosy vision of school holiday romance
but the reality is no Sweet Valley High. Sex is a taboo subject in Ghana.
Add a
patriarchal society, where boys and young men grow up to know they hold all the
power, and there are going to be consequences. And, it’s women bearing the
brunt of those consequences – young women. The consequences come by way of a
small, swaddled, very alive and very demanding infant and, for most, a lifetime
of disadvantage. Australian Nyani Quarmyne is a photographer who has been
documenting social issues in Ghana for the past seven years, in particular
maternal and child health-related issues.
He’s seen, over and over again, the
weight of the burden young women carry in Ghana and the challenges local and
international agencies have to improve the lives of women and children. He’s
met the young women and men at the forefront of the crisis and says the
problems are clear, but the solutions are going to take time and generations of
action. “The issue is sexism,” Quarmyne says. “It’s a huge issue.” “It’s
patriarchal. Men make all the decisions. Women are excluded from the
decision-making to a significant extent. Quarmyne says there is little sex
education and even when it’s delivered, young people are confused and shy to
ask questions.
He recalls the story of one young woman, Florence, whom he met
on a photographic assignment for UNICEF. Florence told her she didn’t really
understand the information she was told about birth control in sex education
classes so had failed to use it. Nyani says Florence fell pregnant in her first
year of junior high school to a young man who, noting she was fearful of
walking home from school in the dark of the evenings, offered to walk with her.
The father of her son initially refused to take any responsibility for Florence
and the newborn, but Florence, wouldn’t hear of it and moved herself and the
couple’s son into his family’s home. “All of the young women I met had a real
sense of not knowing what they were getting themselves into,” Nyani says. “They
have a vision of what it’s like to be at home with a baby and keeping house for
their husband, but the reality is that they’re now saying, if I didn’t have a
baby, I could be out with my friend.” Others are more vocal about what they
could be doing if not for their new young, single mother status.
Linda fell
pregnant to her high school boyfriend and dropped out of school to have her
daughter, Jennifer. While her boyfriend accepted responsibility for the baby
girl, it goes only so far as a transaction of material goods and food for the
baby. Nyani says girls like Linda feel they’ve been unfairly treated. They see
the fathers of their children at school, and they have no hope of returning.
“It’s not uncommon for young men to have children all over the place and for
women to just deal with it.” Nyani says the girls and their families get
enough money and grain to feed the household, and the men are absolved of
further responsibility. “This is how things are: the consequences are
always far less severe for boys.” UNICEF works for children and in Ghana
delivers a program in schools with local NGO Youth Harvest Foundations to bring
sex education to boys and girls.
Written by Kate Moore, UNICEF Australia media and communications
manager
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