Theology and Women’s Agency in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence in Ghana
Main Article Content
Keywords
Intimate partner violence, Christian theology, agency, religious agency, self-advocacy, Ghana
Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a growing problem in sub-Saharan Africa that limits women’s agency. Various studies have found that cultural norms and religion sustain women’s experiences of IPV, inspiring various theories among feminist scholars and within religion on women’s agency. This study determines whether and how theology contributes to the agency of IPV survivors. I draw upon constructivist grounded theory to inductively analyze the stories of thirteen abused Christian women in a mainline church in southern Ghana. My findings indicate that multiple systems, including informal social support networks, constrain survivors while simultaneously serving as conditions for their personal faith and individually constructed theologies. Indeed, these serve as catalysts to their self-enactments and emerging agency. These findings provide nuance to existing (and contested) conceptions of agency.
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References
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Andersson, Neil., Cockcroft, Anne., Ansari, Umaira., Omer, Khalid., Ansari, Noor M., Khan, Amir & Chaudhry, Ubaid U. "Barriers to disclosing and reporting violence among women in Pakistan: Findings from a national household survey and focus group discussions." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 25 (2010):1965–1985, doi:10.1177/0886260509354512.
Avishai, Orit. "Theorizing Gender from Religion Cases: Agency, Feminist Activism, and Masculinity." Sociology of Religion 77 no. 3 (2016):261-79. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srw020.
Cantalupo, Nancy., Lisa Vollendorf Martin., Kay Pak & Sue Shin. "Domestic Violence in Ghana: The Open Secret." The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 7 no. 3 (2006):531-597.
Charmaz, Kathy. Constructing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed., London: Sage, 2014.
Chisale, Sinenhlahla S. "Domestic abuse in marriage and self-silencing: Pastoral care in a context of self-silencing." HTS: Theological Studies 74 no. 2 (2018):1-8. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-ec6377adb.
Corbin, Juliet and Anselm Strauss. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Los Angeles: Sage, 2015.
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Downie, Alison. "Shame, Sin, Mental Illness, and a Feminist Theology of Agency." Journal of Disability and Religion 24 no. 1 (2020):29-39, https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2019.1694461.
Duvvury, Nata, Stacey Scriver, Sarah Gammage, and Neetu John. "The impacts of violence against women on choice and agency: Evidence from Ghana and Pakistan." Women's Studies International Forum 89 no. 102536 (2021):1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2021.102536.
Dwamena-Aboagye, A. Ministering to the Hurting. Women's Mental Health and Pastoral Response in Ghana. Accra: UG Press, 2021.
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Le Roux, Elisabet., Neil Kramm, Nigel Scott, Maggie Sandilands, Lizle Loots, Jill Olivier, Diana Arango and Veena O'Sullivan. "Getting dirty: Working with Faith Leaders to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence." The Review of Faith & International Affairs 14 no. 3 (2016):22–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2016.1215837.
Le Roux, Elisabet. "Can Religious Women Choose? Holding the Tension Between Complicity and Agency." African Journal of Gender and Religion 25 no. 1 (2019):1-19. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/123006.
Mahmood, Saba. "Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival." Cultural Anthropology 16 no. 2 (2001):202–236, https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2001.16.2.202.
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Nadar, Sarojini and Cheryl Potgieter. "Liberated Through Submission?: The Worthy Woman's Conference as a Case Study of Formenism." Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 26 no. 2 (2010):141–151. https://doi.org/10.2979/FSR.2010.26.2.141.
Nason-Clark Nancy, Barbara Fisher-Townsend, Catherine Holtmann, and Stephen Mucmullin. Religion and Intimate Partner Violence. Understanding the Challenges and Proposing the Solutions. NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Njoroge, Nyambura J.. "The Missing Voice: African Women Doing Theology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 99 (1997): 77-83.
Oduyoye, Mercy A. Beads and Strands. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004.
—. Daughters of Anowa. African Women and Patriarchy. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995.
Owusu, Dora A. "Mute in Pain: The power of silence in triggering domestic violence in Ghana." Social Alternatives 35 no. 1 (2016):1-26. https://doi.org/10.3316/ielapa.243661809369078.
Rinaldo, Rachel. "Pious and Critical: Muslim Women Activists and the Question of Agency." Gender & Society 28 no. 6 (2014):824-846. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214549352.
Scheffer Maria L., and Barbo Renck. "Intimate Partner Violence and the Leaving Process: Interviews with Abused Women." International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being 3 no. 2 (2008):113-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482620801945805.
Stiles-Ocran, Elorm A. "No Way Out? The Dilemma of Survivors of Domestic Violence and the Church's Response in Ghana." MA diss., VID Specialized University, 2020, https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2825498.
Stiles-Ocran, David. "Constructing a Heterotopic Christian Social Practice in Ghana." PhD diss., University of Oslo, 2021.
Stiles-Ocran, Elorm. "Women’s Stolen Voices in Marriage: The Role of Gender, Culture and Religion in Intimate Partner Violence." Diaconia. Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice 12 no. 2 (2021):179-197. https://doi.org/10.13109/diac.2021.12.2.179.
Takyi, Baffuor. K., and Enoch Lamptey. "Faith and Marital Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Links Between Religious Affiliation and Intimate Partner Violence Among Women in Ghana." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 35 no. 1-2 (2020): 25-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516676476.
Tsikata, Dodzi. Affirmative Action and the Prospects for Gender Equality in Ghanaian Politics. Accra: Abantu, Women in Broadcasting and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2009. http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/10484.pdf.
UN Women. Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Programming Essentials. NY: UN Women, 2013. http://www.endvawnow.org/uploads/modules/pdf/.
WHO. Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. World Health Organization, 2013. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf.
—. Responding to Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence against Women: WHO Clinical and Policy Guidelines. Geneva: WHO, 2013.
Ackermann, Denis M. "Forward from The Margins: Feminist Theologies for Life." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 99 (1997):63-67.
Adjei, Stephen B. "Entrapment of Victims of Spousal Abuse in Ghana: A Discursive Analysis of Family Identity and Agency of Battered Women." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 32 no. 5 (2017): 730–754. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515586375.
Ahearn, Laura M. "Language and Agency." Annual Review of Anthropology 30 no.1 (2001):109-137. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.30.1.109.
Amenga-Etego, Rose M. "Violence against Women in Contemporary Ghanaian Society." Theology and Sexuality 13 no. 1 (2006):23-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355835806069783.
Amoakohene, Margaret I. "Violence against women in Ghana: a lookat women’s perceptions and review of policy and social responses." Social Science & Medicine 59 (2004):2373-2385. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.04.001.
Andersson, Neil., Cockcroft, Anne., Ansari, Umaira., Omer, Khalid., Ansari, Noor M., Khan, Amir & Chaudhry, Ubaid U. "Barriers to disclosing and reporting violence among women in Pakistan: Findings from a national household survey and focus group discussions." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 25 (2010):1965–1985, doi:10.1177/0886260509354512.
Avishai, Orit. "Theorizing Gender from Religion Cases: Agency, Feminist Activism, and Masculinity." Sociology of Religion 77 no. 3 (2016):261-79. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srw020.
Cantalupo, Nancy., Lisa Vollendorf Martin., Kay Pak & Sue Shin. "Domestic Violence in Ghana: The Open Secret." The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 7 no. 3 (2006):531-597.
Charmaz, Kathy. Constructing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed., London: Sage, 2014.
Chisale, Sinenhlahla S. "Domestic abuse in marriage and self-silencing: Pastoral care in a context of self-silencing." HTS: Theological Studies 74 no. 2 (2018):1-8. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-ec6377adb.
Corbin, Juliet and Anselm Strauss. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Los Angeles: Sage, 2015.
Creswell, John W., and David J. Creswell. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 5th ed. London: Sage, 2018.
Damron, Jillian E. H. and Andy J. Johnson. "Violence Against Women in Religious Communities: An Introduction." In Religion and Men's Violence against Women, edited by Johnson Andy J., 3-14. London: Springer, 2015.
Downie, Alison. "Shame, Sin, Mental Illness, and a Feminist Theology of Agency." Journal of Disability and Religion 24 no. 1 (2020):29-39, https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2019.1694461.
Duvvury, Nata, Stacey Scriver, Sarah Gammage, and Neetu John. "The impacts of violence against women on choice and agency: Evidence from Ghana and Pakistan." Women's Studies International Forum 89 no. 102536 (2021):1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2021.102536.
Dwamena-Aboagye, A. Ministering to the Hurting. Women's Mental Health and Pastoral Response in Ghana. Accra: UG Press, 2021.
Ellis, Stephen and Gerrie Ter Haar. Worlds of Power: Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa. Vol. 1., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Ghana Statististical Service (GSS)., Ghana Health Service (GHS) & ICF International. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2014. Maryland: GSS, 2016, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/SR224/SR224.pdf.
Hadad, Beverly. "Re-framing Women's Agency in #Blessed Sex: Intersectional Dilemmas for African Women's Theologies." HTS Teologiese/Theological Studies 77 no. 2 (2021):1-6. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i2.6603.
Heaton, Tim B. and Akosua Darkwah. "Religious dfferences in modernization of the family." Journal of Family Issues 32 no. 12 (2011):1576-596. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X11398951.
Jewkes, Rachel and Robert Morrell. "Sexuality and the Limits of Agency Among South African Teenage Women: Theorising Femininities and their Connections to HIV Risk Practises." Social Science & Medicine 74 no. 11 (2012):1729-1737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.020.
Kandiyoti, Deniz. "Bargaining with Patriarchy." Gender & Society 2 no. 3 (1988):274-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124388002003004.
Le Roux, Elisabet. "The Role of African Christian Churches in Dealing with Sexual Violence Against Women: The Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Liberia." PhD Thesis, University of Stellenbosch, 2014.
Le Roux, Elisabet., Neil Kramm, Nigel Scott, Maggie Sandilands, Lizle Loots, Jill Olivier, Diana Arango and Veena O'Sullivan. "Getting dirty: Working with Faith Leaders to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence." The Review of Faith & International Affairs 14 no. 3 (2016):22–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2016.1215837.
Le Roux, Elisabet. "Can Religious Women Choose? Holding the Tension Between Complicity and Agency." African Journal of Gender and Religion 25 no. 1 (2019):1-19. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/123006.
Mahmood, Saba. "Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival." Cultural Anthropology 16 no. 2 (2001):202–236, https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2001.16.2.202.
Mahmood, Saba. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Revised ed., Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2011.
McNay, Lois. Gender and Agency: Reconfiguring the Subject in Feminist and Social Theory. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2000.
Momsen, Henshall J. Gender and Development. 2nd ed., London: Routledge, 2010.
Muluneh, Muluken D., Virginia Stulz, Lyn Francis, and Kingsley Agho. "Gender based violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies." International journal of environmental research and public health 17 no. 3 (2020): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030903.
Nadar, Sarojini and Cheryl Potgieter. "Liberated Through Submission?: The Worthy Woman's Conference as a Case Study of Formenism." Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 26 no. 2 (2010):141–151. https://doi.org/10.2979/FSR.2010.26.2.141.
Nason-Clark Nancy, Barbara Fisher-Townsend, Catherine Holtmann, and Stephen Mucmullin. Religion and Intimate Partner Violence. Understanding the Challenges and Proposing the Solutions. NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Njoroge, Nyambura J.. "The Missing Voice: African Women Doing Theology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 99 (1997): 77-83.
Oduyoye, Mercy A. Beads and Strands. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004.
—. Daughters of Anowa. African Women and Patriarchy. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995.
Owusu, Dora A. "Mute in Pain: The power of silence in triggering domestic violence in Ghana." Social Alternatives 35 no. 1 (2016):1-26. https://doi.org/10.3316/ielapa.243661809369078.
Rinaldo, Rachel. "Pious and Critical: Muslim Women Activists and the Question of Agency." Gender & Society 28 no. 6 (2014):824-846. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243214549352.
Scheffer Maria L., and Barbo Renck. "Intimate Partner Violence and the Leaving Process: Interviews with Abused Women." International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being 3 no. 2 (2008):113-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482620801945805.
Stiles-Ocran, Elorm A. "No Way Out? The Dilemma of Survivors of Domestic Violence and the Church's Response in Ghana." MA diss., VID Specialized University, 2020, https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2825498.
Stiles-Ocran, David. "Constructing a Heterotopic Christian Social Practice in Ghana." PhD diss., University of Oslo, 2021.
Stiles-Ocran, Elorm. "Women’s Stolen Voices in Marriage: The Role of Gender, Culture and Religion in Intimate Partner Violence." Diaconia. Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice 12 no. 2 (2021):179-197. https://doi.org/10.13109/diac.2021.12.2.179.
Takyi, Baffuor. K., and Enoch Lamptey. "Faith and Marital Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Links Between Religious Affiliation and Intimate Partner Violence Among Women in Ghana." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 35 no. 1-2 (2020): 25-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516676476.
Tsikata, Dodzi. Affirmative Action and the Prospects for Gender Equality in Ghanaian Politics. Accra: Abantu, Women in Broadcasting and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2009. http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/10484.pdf.
UN Women. Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Programming Essentials. NY: UN Women, 2013. http://www.endvawnow.org/uploads/modules/pdf/.
WHO. Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. World Health Organization, 2013. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf.
—. Responding to Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence against Women: WHO Clinical and Policy Guidelines. Geneva: WHO, 2013.
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Jul 31, 2023
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Theology and Women’s Agency in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence in Ghana. (2023). African Journal of Gender and Religion, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.36615/ajgr.v29i1.2423
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How to Cite
Theology and Women’s Agency in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence in Ghana. (2023). African Journal of Gender and Religion, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.36615/ajgr.v29i1.2423