Churches are advised to support and empower their widows economically
Reverend Mrs Nyuieme Adiepena, immediate past National Women Programme Officer, Evangelical Presbyterian Church Ghana, has called on churches to institute measures to protect the rights of widows.
She said some widowhood rites and practices after the demise of their spouses did not resonate with the principles of the Church, which was the body of Christ and teachings of the Saviour Jesus.
Rev. Mrs Adiepena, speaking at a day’s forum at Awudome-Avenui in the Ho West District of the Volta region, on possible ways of addressing some traditional widowhood rites considered to be dehumanizing, said churches have major roles in safeguarding the rights of widows.
The forum was held under the auspices of Mama Gbeklui Akordeke IV, Queen of Awudome-Avenui and facilitated by Rev. Adiepena in partnership with All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), an organization equipping women in the community with employable skills.
She said some of the rites and practices also violated the fundamental human rights of widows, urging leaders of various churches to put measures in place to ensure that the rights of women were not violated or they did not go through any dehumanizing acts when their husbands died.
Rev. Mrs Adiepena said churches must rise up and walk along with widows, encouraging them and protecting them against any dehumanizing rites and practices.
She asked churches also to empower widows economically, especially the deprived ones, and provided them with the necessary livelihood skills training to enhance their standard of living.
Mama Gbeklui Akordeke IV, Queen of Awudome-Avenui, said it was right for wives to mourn their spouses when they passed on, but subjecting them to shabby treatment embedded in some traditions was really not fair.
She said it was in the light of this that they decided to come together to deliberate and take necessary steps to eliminate such practices from the community.
Mama Akordeke said they were looking at the Christian way of doing the rites in the community since that would not dehumanize and also subject bereaved and grieving women to pain.
Some women who spoke to Ghana News Agency after the forum said some of the rites and practices were not only an infringement of their rights but also negatively affecting their lives and had to be discontinued.
They expressed appreciation to the Queen for championing the cause to eliminate such rites and practices from the community and AACC for facilitating the programme.