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“Not every literate is literate in the sense of understanding that a woman needs her own rights” - Exploring men’s support for women’s empowerment in Ghana – a Minor Field Study

Nguema, Viktoria (2017) UTVK03 20131
Sociology
Abstract
Development aid organizations are increasingly turning their focus on men and masculinities in the pursuit of women’s empowerment. Despite much effort to improve the lives of women, the hegemonic definition of empowerment in economic and individualistic terms have not been able to attack the unequal power structures between men and women, causing them to persist until this day. This essay explores male support for women’s empowerment in urban Ghana through the narratives of both male and female university students. A heavy emphasis is placed on context, whereby the data has been discussed in reference to African feminism and Ghanaian cultural values and history. The data showed that all male students expressed support for empowerment but... (More)
Development aid organizations are increasingly turning their focus on men and masculinities in the pursuit of women’s empowerment. Despite much effort to improve the lives of women, the hegemonic definition of empowerment in economic and individualistic terms have not been able to attack the unequal power structures between men and women, causing them to persist until this day. This essay explores male support for women’s empowerment in urban Ghana through the narratives of both male and female university students. A heavy emphasis is placed on context, whereby the data has been discussed in reference to African feminism and Ghanaian cultural values and history. The data showed that all male students expressed support for empowerment but that some tended to perceive it as threatening if it went ‘too far’, indicating that power over women remains important to the male identity. Education was given less importance in creating support among male students, while culture and exposure were identified as significant in the Ghanaian context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Nguema, Viktoria
supervisor
organization
course
UTVK03 20131
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Ghana, urban, African feminism, empowerment, support, masculinities
language
English
id
8928180
date added to LUP
2017-11-06 16:11:34
date last changed
2017-11-06 16:11:34
@misc{8928180,
  abstract     = {{Development aid organizations are increasingly turning their focus on men and masculinities in the pursuit of women’s empowerment. Despite much effort to improve the lives of women, the hegemonic definition of empowerment in economic and individualistic terms have not been able to attack the unequal power structures between men and women, causing them to persist until this day. This essay explores male support for women’s empowerment in urban Ghana through the narratives of both male and female university students. A heavy emphasis is placed on context, whereby the data has been discussed in reference to African feminism and Ghanaian cultural values and history. The data showed that all male students expressed support for empowerment but that some tended to perceive it as threatening if it went ‘too far’, indicating that power over women remains important to the male identity. Education was given less importance in creating support among male students, while culture and exposure were identified as significant in the Ghanaian context.}},
  author       = {{Nguema, Viktoria}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{“Not every literate is literate in the sense of understanding that a woman needs her own rights” - Exploring men’s support for women’s empowerment in Ghana – a Minor Field Study}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}