Some young women in polygamous marriages in the Northern Region are using cigarettes, cola nuts, or sumptuous meals to lure their husbands to have sex with them.
Many men, especially in the rural Northern Region, have thus been marrying more than one to receive abundant gifts from their wives before satisfying their sexual needs.
Some of the young married women revealed this, on Tuesday, during a workshop for management staff of organisations and business owners, organised by Action Aid Ghana on Life Choices and Livelihoods of Young Women.
Action Aid Ghana is implementing a project in the peri-urban areas of Tamale and Accra called, ‘Young Urban Women: Life Choices and Livelihood’. It is aimed at ensuring that some 2,000 young women living in poverty would have more economic independence and control over their bodies.
The workshop discussed challenges young women face in accessing Decent Work; Women’s Rights at the Work Place; Human Rights; Law on Employment; Employment Contracts, the Labour Act, among others.
The young wives, who pleaded anonymity, explained that they needed to provide their husbands’ needs before they visited their beds, a situation they said, was not making them happy in the marriages.
But, they could not quit because of their children, they explained.
“My husband smokes and any time I need sex then I have to provide a pack of cigarette before he will accept to sleep with me, said one of them.
“If I don’t have money to satisfy his needs it means I will be starved sexually while my rivals who provide his needs are treated better”.
Hajia Alima Mahama, a former Minister of Women and Children, in the erstwhile Kufuor Administration, who facilitated the workshop called on NGOs to work together towards seeking solutions to the problem.
Hajia Alima said it was sad that people were still engaging in polygamy in an era where meeting the needs of the family was a challenging one.
She, therefore, advised women not to accept marriages just to become wives, when their happiness would not be guaranteed.
She also advised young women seeking employment to always read employment contracts carefully before signing because all individuals had rights, including the right to decent work.
Miss Melody Azinim, the Young Urban Women Project Officer, said the project aimed at equipping the young women with employable skills for decent work, and to empower them to be more assertive in defending their sexual reproductive health rights.
She advised young women to stand firm and fight for their rights at the work place and assured them that there was no any discriminatory law anywhere in the country against women.
Action Aid Ghana, she said, would continue to embark on programmes that would empower women.
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(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)