Over 41% of women in Ghana are abused by their partners

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has said that preliminary findings from its 2022 Ghana Demographic and Healthy Survey (GDHS) show that over 41 percent of women experience either emotional, physical or sexual violence from their partners – intimate partner violence (IPV).

This means that two in every five women in Ghana experience at least one form of IPV.

According to the GSS, 35.2 percent of these women experience emotional violence at least once, 22.7 percent physical violence at least once, and 11.2 percent sexual violence at least once.

“The most frequent form of sexual violence was being forced to have sexual intercourse (8.2%), for physical violence being slapped (11.6%) was most frequently experienced, and for emotional violence, it was being insulted or made to feel bad about herself (27.1%),” part of a statement by the GSS reads.

The GSS also indicated that the women in the Savannah Region experienced the most violence in Ghana, followed by the Central Region, the Ahafo Region and the Volta Region.

“More than half (53.4%) in the Savannah Region had experienced IPV, the highest recorded, followed by the Central (44.0%), Ahafo (44.0%), and Volta (43.6%) regions. The lowest rate of IPV was recorded in the Bono Region (26.3%).”

The survey also showed that women with some form of education and those with income-earning jobs experience more violence.

“More than two in every five with primary education (44.1%) or no education (42.9%) had experienced IPV, almost twice that of women with more than secondary education (23.0%). IPV experience varies by employment status as well. Women employed for cash reported the highest frequency of IPV (39.5%), about 10 percentage points higher than women employed but not for cash (28.9%) or not employed at all (29.1%),” it said.

Read the release issued by the GSS below: