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Original Research Article | Open Access | Peer Reviewed
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Unmasking the Effect of Cultural Practices on Women’s Rights to Access Resources: A Case of Small-scale Fishing Communities in Ghana
Harrison Kwame Golo
Sulley Ibrahim
Abstract
Despite Ghana's commitment to numerous human rights treaties requiring the eradication of all forms
of discrimination against women, diverse practices within numerous communities persist in
undermining women's rights to access resources. This article employs a human rights framework to
examine the influence of traditional and cultural practices on women's rights to access resources within
Ghana's coastal small-scale fisheries. The study utilised a qualitative research methodology, comprising
in-depth interviews with 23 key informants and 6 focus group discussions with women from six
selected small-scale fishing communities along the coastline of Ghana. The study reveals that certain
detrimental cultural practices and beliefs, such as community religious taboos, widowhood rites,
inheritance practices, and child marriage, continue to obstruct women's rights to access resources. The
study concludes with recommendations for a holistic approach, such as policy, legislative,
administrative, judicial, among others, to modify or eradicate such cultural and traditional practices that
undermine the full realisation of all the rights of women and girls, and access to resources in the entire
country.
Sulley Ibrahim
Full Text: PDF |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30845/ijhss.vol15p22
Article History:
Received: 31 May 2025 | Accepted: 7 July 2025 | Published: 19 July 2025
Reviewer(s):
Professor BOUMEDIANE Mounia, IRCAM, 1 Place Igor Stravinsky, 75004 Paris, France.
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Address for Correspondence:
Harrison Kwame Golo, Centre for Conflict, Human Rights and Peace
Studies, University of Education, Winneba.
[email protected]
[email protected]
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