About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

25 Fordham Int'l L.J. 259 (2001-2002)
Issue 2

handle is hein.journals/frdint25 and id is 273 raw text is: SPECIAL REPORT PROMISE UNFULFILLED: LAW, CULTURE, AND WOMEN'S INHERITANCE RIGHTS IN GHANA Jeanmarie Fenrich* & Tracy E. Higgins** Palm fruits in the farm of a woman can never ripen. -Ewe Saying INTRODUCTION Although women in Ghana cultivate forty percent of all land, they are far less likely than men to exercise control over their land as independent farmers or farm managers.1 Often they do not control the proceeds from the land2 and lack the ability to dispose of it through sale or inheritance.' On average, women farmers cultivate plots that are about half the size of those cultivated by men.4 The literacy rate for women in Ghana is 38.5%;5 for men it is 60.8%.6 Girls receive less education than * Fellow, Joseph R. Crowley Program in International Human Rights, 2000-2001; Associate, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, New York, New York, 2001-present. ** Professor of Law, Fordham Law School; Co-Director, Crowley Program in Inter- national Human Rights;J.D. Harvard Law School 1990, B.A. Princeton University 1986. 1. Nii Ashie Kotey & Dzodzi Tsikata, Women and Land Rights in Ghana, in WOMEN AND LAW IN WEST AFRIcA: SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF SOME KEY ISSUES AFFECTING WOMEN 204 (Akua Kuenyehia ed., 1998); Mariama Awumbila, Women and Gender Equality in Ghana: A Situational Analysis, in GENDER TRAINING IN GHANA: POLITICS, ISSUES AND TOOLS 44 (Dzodzi Tsikata ed., 2001) (noting regional variations in women land owners with 50% in the Ashanti region and only two and four percent in the Northern and Upper West regions respectively). 2. C.K. Brown, Gender Roles and Household Allocation of Resources and Decision-Making in Ghana, in THE CHANGING FAMILY IN GHANA 21, 25 (Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf ed., 1996) (explaining that women often work on the land but do not control the profits that they make). 3. See Kotey & Tsikata, supra note 1, at 215, 217 (noting that men own most land and that, although women labor on the land, they often do not inherit family land). 4. SALLY BADEN ET AL., BRIDGE (DEVELOPMENT-GENDER), BACKGROUND PAPER ON GENDER ISSUES IN GHANA 12 (Jan. 1994). 5. The literacy rate for females in urban areas is 57% and in rural areas 28.3%. See JOHANNA 0. SVANIKIER, WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND THE LAW IN GHANA 45 (1997). 6. The literacy rate for males in urban areas is 74.8 % and in rural areas 53.5 %. Id.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most