<<Print>>

Women remain vulnerable in marital homes in many a Ghanaian home, suffering not only from the maltreatment of wicked men, but also from members of the extended family. They can be easily thrown out of the marital home without any reasonable cause. In fact, such decisions can be taken by the husband at will. Last week ended on a pathetic note when a certain pastor disgraced his estranged wife on the airwaves. The disclosures emanating from the radio exchange made interesting subjects for street-side gossips in town. When non-pastors are engaged in such troubles, eyebrows are rarely raised but when so-called members of the clergy get caught up in such mess-ups, we tend to fret. In a country where some young self-acclaimed pastors do not have a good record, such stories as Ghanaians were treated to in the dying days of last week made mind-boggling reading. Women do a lot in most homes, if not all. Undertaking domestic chores alongside the quest for daily bread to support the family budget is an engagement for which they must be commended and not humiliated. Pre-marital counseling and even careful observation about the compatibility of a couple, though important, have been relegated to the background in many instances. The eventual outcome of relationships without these is anything but acceptable. Lust, sometimes, overshadows everything and after a short while, what is presented as a fantastic marriage ritual soon encounters challenges along the line. While the women cannot be angels all the time, men, we are sorry to observe, have exhibited so much male chauvinistic tendencies to the disadvantage of the women they bring under their roofs as their better-halves. There are many women who remain with their husbands not because they enjoy being there but because they seek the welfare of their children who they do not want to suffer unduly the effects of broken homes. There have been instances of women developing blood pressure conditions resulting from the stress they undergo in such troubled marriages. We plead with couples, especially celebrities, to be guarded by the sanctity of the institution of marriage and to avoid making effusions which are offensive to the persons of their spouses. It is most reprehensible to hear a man making disparaging remarks on the airwaves about a woman with whom they have children. When these things happen, children from such marriages suffer avoidable trauma. Children, the gifts of God, do not deserve such treatment emanating from the estranged relationship between their parents. We plead with the clergy, in fact, the real Men of God, and not the charlatans who parade the streets with their bad examples, to intervene and save women from the mishandling of bad men. Let us acknowledge the importance of women in the scheme of things and accord them the respect they deserve. We are not by this commentary suggesting that there are no bad women and that men are always wrong. All we seek to impress upon our conscience is that women deserve as much respect as men do. It is a symbiotic relationship in which mutual understanding and reverence are of paramount importance. What prevailed on the airwaves in which an aggrieved woman broke down and shed tears as her husband sought to disgrace her with all manner of disparaging remarks, is not only condemnable but incompatible with the tenets of civility.