Filmmaker Leila Djansi has called for an urgent national conversation on how religious teachings are used to justify violence against women, based on the viral video of a man nammed Odartey Lamptey assaulting his wife, Harriet Amuzu, at Ofankor.
Djansi argued that some interpretations of scripture encourage the dominance of men and weaken efforts to confront abuse. “The Bible quotation ‘Wives, submit to your husbands’ is a major reason domestic violence persists,” she wrote. “Abusers and their apologists hide behind it to reinforce control.”
She explained that the verse is often removed from its full context. “Look at Ephesians 5. The passage has nine verses instructing men to love, protect and honour their wives. But somehow one line becomes a weapon,” she said.
Djansi stressed that the selective use of scripture creates power imbalances in religious homes. “Once the community frames submission as a divine duty, victims lose support. People start telling women to endure instead of helping them escape danger,” she added.
She further noted that misinterpretations cut across Christian, Hindu and indigenous communities, creating societal patterns that normalize male authority without accountability.
According to Djansi, combating abuse will require religious institutions to admit the harm caused by unbalanced teachings. “If the pulpit keeps drilling ‘women submit’ without guardrails, then we cannot pretend domestic violence comes from nowhere,” she stated.
