Patrick Tighe, University of Notre Dame
“Matrilineal and Christian Traditions: Moral Resources Against Ghanaian Female Subjugation”
Bio: Patrick Tighe is a junior undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, Philosophy major, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) minor, and Gender Studies minor at the University of Notre Dame. This past summer Patrick spent two months in Hohoe, Ghana, teaching about HIV/AIDS, helping students with building skills and capacities, and conducting research on third-world masculinity. He is currently the Co-Chair of Notre Dame Student Government's Gender Issues Committee and is a student worker at the Gender Relations Center on campus. One of his greatest passions is theatre and acting. He hopes to pursue graduate studies after completing his undergraduate education and to one day enter into the world of politics and law.
Abstract: In my paper, I employ the contemporary feminist theory espoused by Martha Nussbaum and Catharine MacKinnon to comprehend and analyze the matrilineal and Christian traditions in Ghana as well as the oppressive practices of sex slavery and commercialized sexuality. Building from Nussbaum’s notion of the “central human functional capabilities” and from MacKinnon’s question of whether women are entitled to the rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I develop an ethical, universal standard in which I can compare and judge the current capabilities, and rights of Ghanaian women. Furthermore, I discover that a universal standard of women’s entitlement reveals how the matrilineal and Christian traditions can provide possible directions and resources towards further empowerment and development of women in Ghana.
I thus conclude that the matrilineal and Christian traditions can serve as moral resources for Ghanaian women against sexual exploitation like Trokosi, commercial sex work, and pornography and that these traditions do contribute to Ghanaian women’s empowerment and development.
