SOWK: Working with persons living with HIV/AIDS
This class was my favorite class at the beginning of the semester. The professor didn't appear to be the typical Ghanaian professor, focusing merely on dictation method. She engaged with students and encouraged a lot of discussion and brought up very interesting issues related to HIV/AIDS. We even visited an HIV/AIDS home for a class field trip and got to talk with victims about their experiences. After about a month and a half, the class sorta died, and she started giving us random ridiculous busy work, and pointless class presentations that would take up all of lecture time. I was pretty disappointed.
SOWK: Women's and Children's Rights and Protection
I took this course just for the heck of it. The first couple weeks were please-shoot-me-in-the-head boring. The lecturer has the most monotonous voice and simply read us the Ghanaian Constitution word for word for 2 hours a week. =P But then we got into some VERY heavy issues. Out of all my classes, I think i learned the most about Ghanaian culture in this one. A LOT of very heated gender debates. I was so surprised by what the men in the class were so willing to say. They probably would never get away saying it in America. Stuff like, women set themselves up for rape, guys need sex, guys can't handle a woman being more successful in work and education than them and get jealous or angry, how women are expected to do domestic chores, how it is socially acceptable for men to have multiple partners, even in marriage, but women can be severely punished/stigmatized if they did the same, etc. I understood coming to Ghana that it is a patriarchal society, and i definitely see and hear about it everywhere I go here. It's very apparent. Like at the night market, all the food stalls are run by women. But the BBQ, media, and shoe repair shops are run by males. All taxi and tro-tro drivers are males. The night market is FULL of male customers. Probably 90% male to 10% females. The reason being, most Ghanaian men don't know how to cook. And all the women are in their rooms cooking their own dinners. But anyway...this class gave me even more insight to all these gender-related issues, and I got to hear it straight from a male mouths. I know, half of you guys are probably think I'm crazy for taking this class, being a femi-nazi and all. That's why i had to go to class with a bag of plantain chips to munch on, so to prevent myself from saying something stupid/offensive in class. I was so grateful for a lecture on feminism, where an empowering guest lecturer seriously challenged the men in our class about gender expectations in the society. Ghana is modernizing fast. More women are getting educated and getting jobs. How are they expected to continue carrying out traditional roles while doing everything else? It'll be interesting to see the change. Of course not all men are crazy dominant and controlling and believe all those things i talked about and not all women here are submissive and dependent on men. Most educated women challenge the system. I wish i could write more about this. I have SO much to say and i've had so many analytical discussion figuring all this out. I'd love to talk more with you about it. So call me up and we'll chat over a meal or somethin. =)
Anyway, on top of all the gender discussions, i learned a lot about some of the issues women and children (mostly in the rural areas) in Ghana deal with. Things such as trokosi (where a virgin girl is sent to a shrine for a lifetime of servitude to atone for a family sin), witchcraft (In certain northern regions, the belief of witchcraft is highly prevalent. Elder women are falsely accused of witchcraft and are exiled to witch camps), child betrothals, female genital mutilation, etc. So interesting. All these things are banned according to the constitution of course. As they are old traditions, it's still slowly being controlled and phased out in certain areas.
Aren't you guys proud I survived in a patriarchal society without getting myself in too much trouble? =P Although gender equality hasn't been perfected in America, I do appreciate how far it's come.
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