Decolonizing The Parallel Marriage Ceremonies in the Ghanaian Context (Published)
This research sought to answer the double or parallel marriage rites performed by couples and how it affects the institution of marriage in Winneba in the Efutu Municipality of Ghana. A qualitative approach was used to provide a successful conduct of the research given the complexity of the phenomenon under study. The research design used for the study was case study. The targeted population for the study were married people who performed parallel marriage ceremonies, adults who have reached their marital age but are not married, parents, opinion leaders (pastors) and marriage counsellors. In all, fifteen individuals were purposively and conveniently chosen for the study. This consist of five (5) married individuals who performed parallel marriage ceremonies, four (4) unmarried individuals who have reached their marital but are not married, two (2) opinion leaders, two (2) parents and two (2) marriage counsellors. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to select the elements such as married individuals who performed parallel marriages ceremonies, adult who have reached their marital age but are not married, parents and opinion leaders (pastors). Also, critical case sampling technique was used to sample the marriage counselors involved in the research work. A semi-structured interview guide was used for data collection. It was revealed that, the performance of parallel marriage ceremonies has contributed to the problems of marriage than it was ever imagined. Marriage is seen to be expensive venture by most of the unmarried individuals. This perception has created fear in the hearts of many unemployed and ungainful employed young individuals who have found their love but have no means to tie the knot. Cohabitation which was considered to be against societal norms many years ago, is now accepted and endorsed by society due to the rigorous dynamics involve in getting marriage these days. It is, therefore, inferred from the conclusion and recommended that, the State and other agencies should come together to find better ways through which the effects of the performance of parallel marriage ceremonies on the institution of marriage can be reduced or eradicated.”
Keywords: Effects, Marriage, dual marriage, marriage ceremony, parallel marriage
The influence of religion and marriage on women’s leadership in Ashanti region of Ghana (Published)
Citation: Simon Kyei (2022) The influence of religion and marriage on women’s leadership in Ashanti region of Ghana, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.1, pp.21-38
Abstract: This paper focuses on how religion and marriage cultures in Ghana influence women to be ruled by men. As a descriptive research, it used qualitative research approach and adopted descriptive statistics as it used basic tables and graphs to explain the findings. The major finding was that marriage and religion have potential to prevent women from become leaders as women are likely to obey the marriage and religious principles that group women and men into subordinates and leaders respectively. The conclusion made was that as religion and marriage cultures coerce women to accept that men are to lead them in all spheres of life, the radical feminists who see men as enemies and call for emancipation as means to address the situation are likely to fail in their approach. On the other hand, social and liberal feminists who call for education as means to address the man and women status disparities problem are likely to be comfortable in marriage and religion and succeed in becoming leaders in the society as well
Keywords: Feminism, Leadership, Marriage, Religion., gender othering