Twenty-two-year old Adwoa Ankoma, (pseudo name) who migrated to Accra from\nDunkwa in the Central Region of Ghana, in search of a job, is a good cook and\ncan prepare a variety of Indian dishes even though she is not a native of that\ncountry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a well-cultured\nyoung lady who had to drop out of school to work to support the treatment of\nher ailing mother and fund the education of her two younger siblings, she was\npoised and focused on working hard to make ends meet and, especially, to carve\na niche for herself in the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, Adwoa\nfound a job with an Indian family to which she gave her all. Her virtue of\npaying attention to detail and the ability to grasp new skills with minimum\nsupervision from her Madam, Rajanthi Khatri (not the real name), made her\nan asset to the Khatri Family. Her job description was to prepare two kids\nready for school every morning and fix breakfast, lunch, and supper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy day is always\nvery hectic, I am the first to wake up at 3 a.m. and the last to sleep at 11\np.m. Sometimes I feel like giving up the work but in the interest of my family\nand my future aspirations, I endured,\u201d she told the Ghana News Agency in an\ninterview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although her daily\nwage was GH\u023c8.00, which is below the National Minimum Wage of GH\u023c10.56, she\ncould not press for an increase because she was in dire need of an income to\nsupport her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Thomas Khatri, the\nhusband of Madam Rajanthi, became fond of Adwoa due to her hard work and\nperfectionism. At a point this admiration got to a different level when Mr\nKhatri started making advances that were suggestive of intimacy towards the\nyoung lady. \u201cHe could not take his eyes off me and often made advances that I\nwas so uncomfortable with, sometimes to the extent of touching my body at\nsensitive parts,\u201d Adwoa said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of Adowa\nnot yielding to Mr Khatri’s romantic advances, he suddenly began to\nfind faults with her work and sometimes abused her verbally and physically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI could not tell my\nMadam about what her husband was doing for the fear of losing my job, which was\nmy daily bread. My Madam suspected her husbands’ actions and caught him in\nthe act one day, which ended up in a hot exchange,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Madam Rajanthi,\nhowever, told Adwoa that she had to sack her because she was a threat to her\nmarriage. \u201cI cannot share my husband with any other person, and definitely not\nin my own house, \u201cshe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unfortunate part\nof Adwoa\u2019s woes was that her engagement with the Khatri Family was not\nformalised, as she was unaware of the fact that her work engagement required a\ncontract to be signed under the Law, which entitled her to certain conditions\nof service as well as protecting her from other maltreatments including\nwrongful dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adwoa\u2019s encounter is\nsimilar to the accounts of many domestic workers in the country, majority of\nwhom are women and are bread winners, breaking their backs to make some income.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additional interviews\nthis writer conducted in other parts of Accra and Tema revealed that many young\nladies working in the informal sector such as restaurants and drinking bars go\nthrough repeated, unconsented sexual molestations such as touching and rubbing.\nMajority of these issues are swept under the carpet and not reported for the\nfear of victimisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deducing from a\nnumber of interactions with some employers is the notion that they feel they\nwere doing their employees a favour due to their (employees)\nvulnerability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, there are\na number of national laws and international labour standards including the ILO\nConvention No. 189 on Decent work for domestic workers, (Article 5), which\ndeals with effective protection against all forms of abuse, harassment and\nviolence. Labour laws in Ghana state\nsexual harassment as an offence. Generally, domestic workers in Ghana like all\nworkers are protected by the 2003 Ghana Labour Act and can, therefore, benefit\nfrom employment contracts with details on conditions of service and how to seek\nredress as an employee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Constitution of\nGhana (1992) guarantees every citizen economic right. Article 24 (1) gives\nevery person the right to work under satisfactory, safe and healthy conditions\nand to receive equal pay for equal work without discrimination of any kind.\nSub-section (2) guarantees every worker rest, leisure and reasonable limitation\nof working hours, holidays with pay and remuneration for public holidays, while\nsub-section (3) guarantees the right to form or join a trade union for the\npromotion and protection of economic and social interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the right to\norganise, article 21(e) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, guarantees: \u201cfreedom\nof association, which shall include freedom to form or join trade unions or\nother associations, national and international, for the protection of their\ninterest\u201d. In spite of the constitutional\nprovisions, most people in the informal economy do not work with the legal\nprovisions. Also, there are some gaps in the laws that make young urban women\nin the informal economy susceptible to economic and sexual exploitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interviews with\nselected professionals working to protect women\u2019s rights in Ghana also\nemphasise the fact that sexual violence against women exist both in the private\nand public sectors. These professionals say the systemic silencing of\nvictims\/survivors and the impunity with which the perpetrators carry out their activities\ncontribute to the entrenched and endemic violence against women and girls all\nover the world and many of them suffer in silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Statistics from the\nDomestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service\nshow that 30,408 assault cases were reported nationally between 2011 and 2016,\nalmost but not all women. For example, out of 1,298 rape cases\nreported in 2014, eight of the victims were males. These offenses are everyday\noccurrences and even a higher number of such cases go unreported. Violence\nagainst women and girls is a major infringement on human rights. It has\nbecome a major barrier to women who strive to earn a living and also enjoy\ntheir rights and freedoms on the basis of equality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gender-based violence\nagainst women and girls also have a huge economic price tag. There is the\nneed to address the structural barriers that hinder vulnerable women both in\nformal and informal economy as well as urban and rural areas from fully\nenjoying their economic security and bodily integrity. ActionAid has, over the\nyears, implemented the Young Urban Women\u2019s Project to enable marginalised young\nwomen to assert their economic and bodily rights across three cities in\nGhana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Margret\nBrew-Ward, the Advocacy and Campaigns Manager of ActionAid Ghana, says the\nprogramme, which is in its third phase, had supported young urban women to\nenhance their skills to challenge the inequality they face and demand\naccountability at various levels to ensure they enjoy their rights and adhere\nto their responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She categorised the\ncase of Adwoa as falling under Economic Rights violations as well sexual abuse\nor harassment emanating from employer-employee relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is, therefore, not\nfarfetched that in rounding up activities for 16 Days of Activism for 2018,\nActionAid Ghana, in collaboration with partners, organised a national forum on\nthe theme: \u201cSexual and Economic Exploitation of Young Urban Women in Informal\nWork Spaces\u201d and called on the Government to ratify the ILO Convention 189,\npass the Domestic Workers Bill into law and put in place more measures to\nensure the implementation of provisions of the Labour Law in the informal work\nspaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyone needs to\ncontribute towards halting gender-based violence to ensure a peaceful society\nfor all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A GNA Feature by Yaw Ansah<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"