Domestic Violence against Men within the Ashaiman Community

Abstract

Domestic violence is a major public health problem that has negative impact on the peaceful existence of people who are engaged in various forms of relationships. A large number of the Ghanaian population may have experienced, witnessed or heard about its occurrence. The aim of this study was to identify forms of domestic violence perpetrated against men by their female partners, reasons for male abuse and actions taken by abused men. The study was carried out within the people living in the Ashaiman community. Structured questionnaires were administered to respondents for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were run on the data. The study found that the level of knowledge about domestic violence was very high as (93%) of the respondents know about some forms of domestic violence. The study also established that men suffer from of various forms domestic violence, including physical (82.4%), sexual (79%), verbal and psychological abuse (93.3%). The results from the study also indicated that females abuse their male partners for several reasons with the major one being the inability of men to provide money for housekeeping according to (87%) of the respondents. It was also found that reporting to religious leaders and family relatives were the major actions taken by abused men as claimed by 77.3% and 76.4% of the respondents respectively.