Lawyer and Executive Director of the Ark Foundation, Angela Dwamena Aboagye, has condemned a disturbing viral video showing a man violently assaulting a woman, warning that such acts reflect a widespread and dangerous belief that marriage gives men control over their partners.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Friday, 21 November, she said that no man has the right to abuse a woman under any circumstances.

“Men should understand that women are equally autonomous. For Christ’s sake, men have got to school themselves to appreciate that women are autonomous and the rights that men are entitled to in marriages, women are equally entitled to.”

She stated that being married to a woman does not give any man the freedom to dominate or harm her. “Marriage does not give men the right to do whatever they please to their women,” she said.

She noted that while the footage is shocking, it is not unusual. “This development is not in isolation; men beating up their partners is quite a common spectacle, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.”

She used the opportunity to highlight global and regional statistics on violence against women. “In 2023, about 140 women were killed every single day globally at the hands of their partner or close relative,” she said.

“This means a woman was killed every 10 minutes.” She added that Africa records even worse rates, with 2.5 women per 100,000 dying due to abuse.

Citing the 2024 World Health Organization report, she said, “About 17% of women aged 15 years and older in sub-Saharan Africa experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner.”

Dr Aboagye also pointed out how marriage itself places heavy burdens on women, from pregnancy and childbirth risks to becoming primary caregivers. “Women actually run the risk of dying during childbirth. No man has ever died by having children, but women die. Maternal mortality is real,” she said.

She criticised society and religious institutions for encouraging women to stay in abusive marriages. “Society and religion have socialised women to believe that marriage is the ultimate. Even if the women are suffering maltreatment in marriages, the same older women in the church and the family unit are the ones going to ask the women, ‘Oh, pray, it will get better, pray and go back and endure.’ How is this fathomable? I don't get it.”

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