“She Thinks I’ll Marry Her, but I Won’t”

The Gendered Conceptualisation of Consensual Unions in Ghana

Dados Bibliográficos

ID18977387
AutoresR Obeng-Hinneh (0000-0002-5048-0546, Ghana Institute of Journalism, Department of Integrated Social Sciences, 32nd Gamel Abdul Nasser Road, Post Office Box GP 667, Accra, Ghana (, )., autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume53
Fascículo3
Páginas382-403
Data de publicação2022-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
EditoraUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.53.3.050
OpenAlexW4308214613
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas46

A large body of work on consensual unions suggests a unitary household conception of consensual unions either as a precursor or an alternative to marriage. Another set of literature, though quite scanty, reveals gender differences in experiences in consensual unions. This paper adds to the argument that attitudes towards intimate relationships and marriage can be gendered. As a result, one partner may hope for the conversion of a consensual union to marriage whilst the other would not. The paper interrogates the ways in which the socio-cultural context of Ghana influences the gendered attitudes towards consensual unions as a form of intimate partnership and creates a sense of ‘commitment phobia’ particularly for men. To do this, thirty-one people with varying ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds were purposively sampled. In-depth interviews were conducted separately for the individual partners. The paper concludes that contrary to the unitary household conception of consensual unions, there is a gendered conceptualisation of these unions where women are more likely to think of consensual unions as a precursor to marriage while men think of it as an alternative to marriage

Argument (complex analysis) · Context (archaeology) · Ethnic group · General partnership · Geography · Political science · Set (abstract data type) · Sociology · Unitary state · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender Studies · Law · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Psychology · Social Psychology