Ghanaian journalist and host of The StandPoint, Oheneyere Gifty Anti, has disclosed that her life is frequently threatened due to her public advocacy for feminism.
Speaking on Daybreak Hitz (in October 2022), the broadcaster shared that she consistently receives abusive and threatening calls from individuals who accuse her of negatively influencing young people.
“Oh, plenty. Even yesterday… there are those who call saying they will beat me or kill me. They claim I’m poisoning the minds of the youth. Recently, they said I have betrayed women,” she recounted.
Gifty Anti’s comments on the threats came barely a week after she had publicly addressed the stereotype that associates power with rudeness in women, noting that many men are intimidated by accomplished women.
“Every man is afraid of a powerful woman. They keep saying they support this style, but when they see you climbing higher and higher and becoming more assertive, things change,” she stated.
She emphasized that while successful women are often unfairly labeled as disrespectful, such traits are simply character issues and not a matter of gender:
“They associate power with rudeness, but I always say that’s just a character trait, not a gender issue.”
Her experience illustrates the gender-based online violence faced by many women activists and journalists, who are often targeted with personal attacks and threats in an attempt to silence their voices and advocacy for social change.
