Abstract
Gender and Sexuality in Ghanaian Societies introduces scholars, researchers, and students to the complexities of women’s identities in modern Ghana. As an introductory text, the strength of the volume lies within the finely textured ethnographic material that informs the entire book except for the final chapter. For students, researchers, and scholars of gender dynamics in Ghana and throughout Africa, the work effectively links the past to the present through rich descriptions of gender and sexuality across diverse ethnic communities in Ghana. Readers may discern the impact of exposure to Western culture that extends from the precolonial era through the postindependence landscape of the twenty-first century. The use of the word “traditional” is explained within an appropriate context that avoids discussions of African cultural norms as static and frozen in time along with connotations of non-progressive sociocultural patterns.
The book successfully analyzes a diverse range of ethnic communities in Ghana to support the assertion articulated in the introduction: “Examples abound in different African cultures that show that the gender binary based on biological sex is not set in stone. Gender roles can change based on age, religious, or political status” (p. xi). The inclusion of diverse examples of gender roles, cultural norms, customs and traditions create a rich storehouse of ethnographic material as a major strength of the book. Important institutions such as the Ghanaian family, the church, rites of passage, the Queen Mother system, and other customs and traditions are presented in ways that highlight indigenous cultural realities within a postcolonial feminist framework.
The chapter, “Women, Gender, Sex and the Church,” fulfills an over-arching theme of the volume because it traces the evolution of gender, sexuality, and codes of behavior for women in “traditional” settings as well as the contemporary Ghanaian environment. Donkor highlights the ways in which patriarchal structures shape women’s sexual identity, and notes the lack of adequate research on “religion as a bastion of patriarchal sexuality” (2). The chapter corroborates the well documented unfavorable impact of Christianity on African women and vividly conveys the ways in which the transformative nature of Ghanaian religious practice shapes women’s sexuality. Donkor provides insightful examples of unusual and problematic behaviors of Ghanaian women and men in the church that runs counter to ethical and moral standards in society.
Two chapters in the volume examine the social and economic impact of divorce on Ghanaian women to provide diverse examples of the complexities of divorce in modern Ghana as well as to illustrate the impact of socioeconomic status on financial independence and stability. The study provides important insight into family dynamics, trauma and stigma caused by divorce. The divorce rate is rising in Ghana and the chapter highlights the multifaceted causes of marital discord such as physical abuse, urbanization, and nuclear family patterns among others.
The least effective chapter in this reader’s assessment is “Mothers, Daughters, and Queens: Motherwork as Pedagogy” because it fails to examine gender and sexuality in Ghanaian societies. In contrast to the aims of the book, it introduces a study abroad course in Ghana. The absence of a focus on Ghanaian women throughout the chapter detracts from the books’ objectives to reposition women’s identities.
Although the book is a meaningful contribution to women’s and gender studies in Ghana, the six chapters fall short in achieving the aims articulated in the introduction: to reinterpret western narratives of gender roles and sexuality in Ghana and throughout Africa that date from the colonial encounter on the continent. The introduction succeeds in providing an effective historical perspective that traces perceptions, images, and distortions of women’s identities crafted by Europeans as part of the cultural imperialist agenda and the civilizing mission during the colonial era in Africa. The remaining chapters, however, offer a limited scope and narrow focus. The editors account for the size of the collection as a result of COVID-19-era challenges for the original contributors that caused some of them to withdraw from the project. The scope of the book does not address a comprehensive examination of social, economic and political forces that shape the identities of diverse communities of Ghanaian women. Of the six chapters, two of them examine the experiences of divorce among Ghanaian women.
Nonetheless, Gender and Sexuality in Ghanaian Societies is a meaningful introductory text that addresses gendered experiences in the past and present in diverse Ghanaian communities. Readers will engage with authentic cultural content that effectively disrupts the distorted images, misunderstandings and stereotypical portrayals of gender and sexuality in Ghana and other African communities.