Women’s Property Rights and Dispute Resolution among the Anlo and the Asante of Ghana

The general perception is that norms used in deciding cases in Anlo/Asante chiefs’ courts in Ghana violate women’s property rights. Analysis of norms and proceedings in chiefs’ courts is important because chiefs’ courts play a tremendous role in dispute resolution among the ethnic groups. The findings of the research are that chiefs’ courts do not discriminate against women in gender neutral cases and that the bias occurs when the case is gender sensitive. Women also have limited participation as decision-makers in indigenous courts, a factor, among others, that may contribute to the bias against them. There is need to modernise operations in chiefs’ courts to make it gender friendly. Moreover, since gender issues tend to affect women’s property rights, and are often used as central reference points for the handling of disputes, there is need for social re-orientation of people. It requires a massive public educational campaign in order to eliminate or minimise, gender stereotypes that operate in chiefs’ courts in Ghana.