By Ama A.A. Baafi and Cindy D.M. Asamoah

Some women’s rights advocates have began a campaign to make the housing rights of women in Ghana more visible. For a start, the groups are collaborating with the media to ensure that the concerns of women and the violations related to their housing and land rights become an area that deserve attention.

Research shows that in some societies women are denied rental rights in their own capacity, and in the absence of husbands they are asked to vacate the premises. Also a housed woman today could be homeless or inadequately housed tomorrow due to disinheritance, divorce, separation, HIV/AIDS and lack of security of tenure in land and housing.

Particularly in Africa, societies are structured in such a way that women continue to wallow in poverty, constituting about 70% of poor people. Women also constitute a big number of slum dwellers and those inadequately housed globally. In Ghana, a street in old Fadama, a well-known slum in Accra, explains it all.

There are 1.4 billion people worldwide poorly housed and women and children in Africa form a big percentage of the about 100 million homeless people in the world. Women, however, fearing homelessness, endure violence because they are the ones who have to leave the house and not the perpetrators.

Ms Agnes Kabajuni of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a non-governmental organization involved in women and their housing rights that is spearheading the campaign, noted that because of the low socio-economic status and negative cultural practices, women depend on family members or partners to access housing.

She said even where rentals exist, because of low income status of women, adequate rentals are unaffordable to majority of them.

She was speaking at a day's workshop for media personnel in Accra organized by COHRE in collaboration with Women Media and Change (WOMEC) to share knowledge on housing and land rights of women and to examine the opportunities and challenges in reporting such issues, and subsequently scale up reportage.

Ms Kabajuni stressed that human rights perspective envisages a situation of equal ownership, access and control of housing between all men and women across the globe for people to live in peace, security and dignity.

"Home ownership by women should be safeguarded in view that female households accounts for one third of world families. The right to adequate housing is central to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights; it is more than a place to live in. To women housing might mean a place of work, care for children, a place to associate etc".

She listed seven elements that qualify a house to be adequate as follows: legal security of tenure (free from eviction and other forms of threat), availability of services, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location and cultural adequacy (cultural identity and diversity in terms of housing materials etc.)

The Executive Director of WOMEC, Mrs. Charity Binka, said the media's role is critical to bringing the issues of women housing rights to the fore. She explained that women, when on the streets, are vulnerable to all kinds of hazards.

Therefore, she said, it is time for the media in Ghana to begin to share knowledge on housing and land rights of women so that society will be informed on the impact of forced eviction.

"The media can play a vital role to speed up efforts towards gender equality. They can also mobilize a vast range of other stakeholders especially decision makers and other civil society organizations to bring about the needed change".

 

Source: Public Agenda