Society & Culture

RAPE IN GHANA

By Eric Amoah 3A3
Pearson House

Of late a lot of Ghanaians have expressed their concern about the rampant incidence of rape in the country through articles published in your esteemed daily national paper and weekly private newspaper as well. It appears to me that most of the contributors have ignored to point out the real causes of rape against women (especially the teenagers) in Ghana.

Before I decide to offer any meaningful suggestion as to how to combat the upsurge of this social evil in our Ghanaian Society, I would like to share some of the main causes of rape against women in Ghana.

Firstly one needs to consider the kind of dress put on by the women in Ghana especially the school girls. It appears that most of the teenagers particularly the students of late put on tight and short dresses which expose "ATTRACTIVE” parts of their body to men. Such exposure immediately arouse the sexual instincts of almost everyman on the street. This can cause rape. Another cause of raping in our society is the behavior exhibited sometimes by some of our females. Some girls are fond of asking and other favors including gifts from men, since there is no free lunch any part of the world these days, the men equally asks for favour from the women which normally result in violent sex otherwise known as raping.

Based on what I have discussed as the causes of rape I wish to offer the following suggestion.

Firstly there should be some kind of law in Ghana banning women of all ages from wearing tight and short dresses . This may help to check sexual harassment.

Secondly it is the duty of parents to buy all the needs of their daughters so as to eliminate their demand for favour from men who one day may rape them.

Finally I wish to suggest that those men found guilty of of raping should be shown on the national television. I think that if the members of parliament could review and and extend the present sanctions of offenders of rape from 3 years to 10 years imprisonment, it could go a long way in limiting if not eliminating completely this emerging social violence plaguing our free and peaceful loving country Ghana.

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