Fathers fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
The Real Fathers' Club is challenging traditional stereotypes in Ghana and ensuring the harmful practice of FGM does not resurface.
In a small rural community in Ghana’s Oti Region, near the Togolese border, the Real Fathers’ Club is in session. Michael, a 41-year-old, teacher, farmer, and father of eight children - including six daughters, is talking about girls’ rights with the other men of his village.
"Real change starts with us. When we share the work at home, everyone benefits."
The club was established in April 2024 as part of Plan International’s efforts to promote positive masculinities and gender-responsive parenting in Ghana’s Oti Region. It serves as a platform for men, primarily crop farmers, to share experiences and learn about their roles in creating harmonious and equitable households.
Traditionally in the region, cooking, caring for children, and household work is the sole domain of women, with men focusing on more ‘manly’ pursuits: farming and other outdoor tasks. Now, this narrative is being rewritten, largely thanks to a Real Fathers’ Club providing a platform for men to discuss and redefine masculinity.
Now, because of the club’s activities, numerous fathers in the community are stepping up to share household responsibilities with their wives, bond with their children, and challenge deeply engrained gender and masculinity norms that have shaped their communities for generations. Their efforts are seeing a positive change in preventing the practice of FGM, which has been entirely eradicated from local culture and life.
Stronger together
Michael says he used to think unpaid care work was solely for women, but since he joined the Real Fathers’ Club this year, he thinks differently:
“Men would let their wives carry firewood with babies on their backs while we carried only tools,” he explains. “Now, I carry the firewood so my wife can carry the baby. The Real Fathers’ Club has been very helpful. We share ideas on how to assist our wives with house duties so they can rest, and we encourage the children to help out too. When my wife is cooking banku, I help by cutting the okra so we can finish early, and have time for family discussions,” explains Michael.
Michael believes their new marital collaboration not only lightens his wife’s workload, but also strengthens their relationship, creating a more harmonious home for their children. Michael’s eldest daughter, Enyonam, 17, who is at secondary school, has noticed a real difference in her father’s attitude to family life, and his children.
“I feel happy that my father is promising to support us,” she says. “Some of my friends say their parents don’t spend much time interacting with them or asking what they need. Parents should show love toward their children, just like my parents do.”
Agbeko, a 47-year-old, hunter, farmer and, father of six, is a fellow member of the Real Fathers’ Club, and echoes Michael’s sentiments – “I always encourage my daughters to share their aspirations with me. If they want to work hard, I’ll support them, unlike my father, who didn’t support me. People often mention that I have a lot of daughters, and I am proud of that.”
Keeping FGM out of the community
For many fathers here, these radical new attitudes towards parental responsibility extend beyond the home. The Real Fathers’ Club has also opened up important discussions about protecting daughters from teenage pregnancy and traditional harmful practices such as FGM.
Agbeko says he is very glad that the practice of FGM has died out in the community. “They used to practice FGM here, but it has stopped now.” His daughter, Naomi, agrees; “My message to other communities is that they should stop FGM because it can cause infections and even death, which is not good. Families should not put their daughters through it, whether for tradition or not, because they could lose their daughters.”
Though FGM is no longer practised here, Michael believes education and awareness campaigns remain crucial in ensuring that the practice does not resurface. As part of the Real Fathers’ Club program, Plan International is supporting families like Michael’s, providing sanitary pads and training sessions on menstrual health. With a membership of 24 men, the club meets twice a month to discuss topics such as supporting women in unpaid care work, bonding with children through caregiving, and redistributing household responsibilities to reduce women’s workload.
The project is proving that change is possible, even in the most traditional communities.
Real change, as Michael puts it, starts with real men.
Photographs: Michael Aboya
Words: Jane Labous and Regina Asamoah
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