Property Rights of Spouses Bill is for both genders
Society has been called upon to look at issues involving men and women with equal gender lenses. This, when done, would help reduce gender stereotyping in society and promote human development among the sexes.
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The Chairperson of the Leadership and Advocay for Women in Africa (LAWA) Ghana, Mrs Shiella Minkah-Premo, made the call at a day’s training programme for selected media persons in Accra on the Property Rights of Spouses Bill (PRSB).
The training, which was organised by LAWA-Ghana and the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), was sponsored by Star Ghana, a multi-donor pooled, funding mechanism funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), Danish International Developmnent Agency, European Union and United States Agency for International Development.
The PRSB, which is currently before Parliament, seeks to regulate the property rights of spouses in accordance with Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution.
The 1992 Constitution in Article 22 imposes an obligation on Parliament to enact legislation to regulate the property rights of spouses to have equal access to property jointly acquired during marriage.
It also allows for matrimonial property to be equitably distributed between spouses upon termination of the marriage.
According to Mrs Minkah-Premo, people misinterpreted the PRSB to mean women being empowered to take over the property of their husbands.
However, she said people should use equal gender lenses to look at the gender implication of the bill to know that it would serve the interest of both men and women when divorce set in during marriage.
She, therefore, called on the media to help in disabusing people’s minds by using appropriate arguments to counter stereotyping about property rights within marriages.
She also called on the media to lead a re-socialisation agenda of the general public by encouraging boys to respect girls.
Mrs Minkah-Premo said the passage of the PRSB into law had become necessary as “women in Ghana have always worked and contributed towards the acquisition of property during marriage but for a long time their contribution was not recognised and was believed to belong to their husbands only”.
In the same vein, Mrs Minkah-Premo said a sizeable number of men had also helped their well-to-do wives to acquire more wealth, and that they also had to benefit from such wealth whenever there was a divorce or separation.
Explaining why gender and property rights had become an issue, she said it all boiled down to the customary law position founded on tradition where the man was the head of the household and breadwinner, and, therefore, charged with the responsibility of ensuring the welfare of all the household members, saying that the view was also reinforced by religion.
“Despite the advances in the role of women in several sectors of the economy and their contribution towards property acquisition either alone or in association with their husbands, cultural attitudes and perceptions have kept women from being legal owners to landed property on the same footing as their husbands”, she added.
Journalists pledged to help in advocating the passage of the bill into law as soon as possible.
