A situated, African understanding of African feminism for men: a Ghanaian narrative

Abstract

Feminism provides a key analytical space for theory-building and re-centring historically marginalised narratives and epistemologies. However, the preponderance of women in feminist scholarship has been construed by some as meaning that feminism excludes the interest of men. Situated within a critical discourse analysis and drawing on interviews with men and key informant interviews with women, this essay investigates people’s attitudes towards feminism in Ghana (with the concomitant discourses around what is African and what is Western). Feminism was largely perceived by most men and women as a dangerously feminising and Western construct, capable of destabilising the cultural exceptionalism of Ghanaian society. However, a few men appear to have embodied ‘progressive’ thinking about feminism and alternative constructions of masculinity. For such participants, embracing feminism comes at no cost to men and their manhood. They admit that men have benefited from a patriarchal system, which comes with opportunities and privileges; hence, the struggle for a better and gender equitable society continues. They propose the use and adoption of feminism as an important tool to precipitate shifts in how men approach both their relationships with women, and their own masculine identities.

Keywords:

• Development Studies
• feminism
• Ghana
• gender studies
• masculinities
• men

Acknowledgement

I thank my respondents for warmly welcoming and sharing with me their thoughts. I am also grateful to two anonymous reviewers of this journal for their critically useful comments/suggestions. My appreciation also goes to the editors of the journal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was part of a doctoral fellowship supported by the Social Science Research Council’s Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Fellowship, with funds provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York. However, the funder did not contribute to the design, data collection, analysis and write of this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Isaac Dery

Isaac Dery recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His research interests focus on constructions of masculinities, social subjectivities, and gender-based violence, and the intersections between these areas within a neoliberal Ghanaian society. Isaac has been a recipient of the Next Generation of Social Sciences in Africa of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), Young African Scholar of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the African Peacebuilding Network Individual Research grant. His research has been published in journals such as Social Science and Medicine, Journal of interpersonal violence, Reproductive Health, Journal of Asian and African Studies, and Gender Issues.