Across Traditions and Modernity: The Ashanti Woman’s Access to Land

Like many countries in the developing world, Ghana continues to experience a high rate of urbanization. For the urban woman the effects have a wider significance. The role of the modern woman has for a long time been taken for granted, with the belief that aiding men in the land market, will have a trickledown effect on women. This seems to stem from our housing, land and related policies being developed based on the nuclear family (as defined in the European culture). Thus in urban Ghana, women seem to have been marginalized in housing provision – not because they are overtly excluded from the market, but because the modern social structure cunningly cloud their abilities. This paper examines these issues in relation to the Asante tribe in Ghana. This paper examines the status of women in Asante with particular reference to the political system, inheritance, marriage, professional life, land tenure system, and the society in general.
The paper found that the Asante woman is not fettered by any institutional structures in her upward mobility. In fact, the traditional regime, she was at a complete advantage as the entire socio-cultural and political arrangements inured to her benefit. In the modern system she is free to participate in the urban land market; her inability to participate fully is not due to any institutional constraints but rather to her maladjustment in the new economic order prescribed by urbanisation and its concomitants. She can enter a business and own property without reference to her husband or any male relatives. Whatever programmes which would be developed to aid her should enable her to do things for herself within her perception of her socio-political circumstances. External prescriptions stand a chance of damaging marital relations and the family structure, the fundamental requirements for a stable society for children.