Sista Clinik

I had heard cases of how some women employees were let go as a result of getting pregnant, but the cases always sounded absurd and unreal until it happened to me. In my case however, I was not sacked for getting pregnant but rather, getting married. May 2015 after my wedding, I was issued a termination letter and a new staff had been engaged to take over from me, just like that, without any valid reasons whatsoever. I was offered just two months salary which was for lieu of notice and leave allowance. I had been working for the company for 8 years, and this was how they chose to let me go. I arranged several meetings with my superiors to understand why I had been let go as; an act I thought was unfair to me, but proper reasons that justified the treatment was not forthcoming. So I decided to ‘dig’. I found out that the owners believed that married women were not as efficient as single women as they were perceived to have greater responsibilities.  The bosse...

“I am responsible, but I’m not ready to be a father.” I felt nauseous immediately – again.  How could he say such a thing to my family? I felt dejected. I saw the disappointed look on my mom’s face. I was her only child and she wouldn't have it. My family obviously did not agree to commit such an atrocious act, but the harm was already done…the shame.   During the ultra-scan, the obstetrician looked at the motion picture on the screen; a smile worked at the corner of his lip.  “They’re twins” He said. I felt a twinge of joy which was clouded with pain and confusion.  “Are you sure?”. It was too good to be happening at that point in my life as far as my situation was concerned. To me it was divine, but their father did not want them.  “I’m a sonographer and I know what I’m talking about... congratulations.”    “Thank you” I managed to say. Days passed and yet the man still insisted he was not ready to be a father. ...

Women hold up half the sky. -           Chinese Proverb This proverb goes to tell how important women are in the development of the world, and this write up is an attempt to look at the extent to which deeply entrenched pronatalist thinking robs us of the potential of a large number of women; potential that would have served to develop humans and economies. Pronatalism is an attitude or policy that is pro-birth, that encourages reproduction and exalts the role of parenthood above a number of things, thus making being a parent a measure of value, especially for women. What I’d like to make clear before moving on is that this does not mean that a non-pronatalist society is against reproduction and parenthood, but that they do not see those as markers of success, wealth, or value, of humans. Coming home to Ghana, women carry the weight of a pronatalist-minded society and have been suffering under it for years, bringing alo...