How did the #MeToo Movement emerge?

The #MeToo movement began in the United States in 2017 in response to accusations of sexual assault and harassment of white women in the entertainment industry. It has given courage to women across the world to talk about the sexual violence they have sustained. Thousands of women reported their experiences of sexual abuse throughsocial media. Even though women and girls face a number of threats on a daily basis only a few utter their victimization due to fear of being blamed and stigmatized. Sexual violence is an everyday occurrence yet it is almost never acknowledged.

The #MeToo Movement in Africa

Even though women across Africa have been subjected to sexual victimization for years and have been protesting about sexual abuse, the #MeToo movement has not been as prominent in the African continent as in the US. In Ghana, the #MeToo movement appears to address only a few women in Ghana, those with an education and with an access to internet. Most women in Ghana do not have access to the same resources that western women do.

In Ghana, very few cases of sexual violence are being reported due to a sense that sexual harassment claims are not taken seriously. Those accused of sexual violence are rarely held accountable for their actions. Therefore, women are discouraged from speaking out. In addition, women are being stigmatized when they do speak out about sexual assault because sexual violence is tolerated in the Ghanaian culture. Greater education on sexual equality will improve the situation as Ghanaians will become aware of the resources available to them to combatsexual exploitation. Transformation begins with empowering the individual.

The #MeToo Movement in Africa

A public lecture was held in 2018 at Webster Ghana on “Breaking the Silence: An African Perspective on #MeToo” to dismantle sexual abuse against women. Lectures from the Webster University analyzed the role of the #MeToo movement in Ghana and the prevalence of sexual violence in different Ghanaian settings. In 2019, dozens of women marched with a sign through Accra to protest about those who have sexually attacked Ghanaian women but had never been sentenced for their actions. The goal of these protestors was to hold the sexual predators accountable for their actions. Another movement that grew out of the #MeToo movement is #TimesUpGH that aimed towards stopping sexual abuse in schools. Also, the Coalition Against Sexual Abuse Ghana is a movement that grew out of #MeToo with the goal to raise awareness about sexual violence among women.

All in all, even though existing movements grew out of #MeToo in order to reduce stigma around gender based violence, there is still work to be done. There is still the need for counseling centers and government agencies focused on women’s rights to emerge in order to raise awareness about sexual assault. The procedures followed when a woman reports sexual abuse in Ghana should change in order to reduce the stigmatization of the victim and allow more women to speak up.