Promise Unfulfilled: Law, Culture, and Women's Inheritance Rights in Ghana

Abstract

This Report presents the findings of a Fordham delegation. It consists of three parts. Part I sets out Ghana's obligations under international law as they relate to issues of women's equality generally and inheritance rights specifically. Part II describes the sources of Ghanaian law relevant to the issue. Part II begins with a very general description of the Ghanaian family. It then proceeds to analyze in some detail customary law governing marriage and property, including the customary law of intestate succession, which governed estates prior to 1985. Part II then describes both constitutional and statutory law relevant to intestate succession, particularly Law 111 which created for the first time a right for spouses to inherit from the estate. Finally, Part III presents the delegation's findings with respect to a range of problems women face in claiming their rights under the statutory regime. Part III describes and documents the problems and then offers recommendations designed to address them.

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