African and Asian Studies A A S African and Asian Studies 7 (2008) 395-421 www.brill.nl/aas Collective Activism: T e Domestic Violence Bill becoming Law in Ghana Akosua Adomako Ampofo Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG-73, Legon, Ghana
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[email protected] Abstract T is article refl ects on contemporary struggles for citizenship rights through an examination of civil society’s advocacy for the passage of domestic violence legislation in Ghana. T e National Coali- tion on Domestic Violence Legislation, established in 2003 specifi cally to push for the passage of the legislation, at various times worked closely with, and at other times independently of, or even in confl ict with, the state. T ese processes and engagements point to the vibrancy of civil society and suggest the need for new analyses of social movements, political power and democracy that are rooted in Africa’s contemporary realities. Keywords citizenship, social movements, women’s collective action, domestic violence, domestic violence legislation Domestic Violence: Contemporary Issues Contemporary women’s movements and organisations constitute an area of prolifi c output, especially in sociology and political science. In recent years feminist scholars in the global South have focused much attention on the ways in which civil society organisations have addressed women’s rights and, fur- ther, expanded the concept of rights and contributed to the democratisation process (Moghadam, 2005). Violence against women, and gender-based vio- lence, have become an important arena for exploring the subject of women’s “rights” and citizenship (Mama, 2005), as evidenced by the annual mobilisa- tion of women globally around the theme “Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Violence”.