I Divorced Him but He Said He Has Not Divorced Me: Gendered Perspectives on Muslim Divorce in Accra, Ghana

The title of this chapter is a revealing window into women’s experiences of Islamic divorce processes and procedures in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. The statement, “I divorced him, but he said he has not divorced me” was voiced by an interlocutor during my fieldwork, and it reflects the common situation of women who want to leave their marriage but are unable to do so because their husbands do not agree. Divorce and remarriage are both common and accepted among Muslims in Accra.¹ In classical Islamic law, men and women have different options in divorce. If a Muslim man