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This paper adopts the multinomial endogenous treatment effect approach to analyze the impact of innovation choices on the income of 230 fish workers in the Greater Accra and Central regions of Ghana, while the Kendall's ranking technique is applied to analyze the constraints to innovation. Findings show that technological and non-technological innovations available to fish workers have positive impacts on their income. Specifically, savings, credit access, and support service are identified to have positive impacts on income while gender and membership of a fish workers' association have negative impacts on income. The most pressing constraints to innovation faced by female fish workers are cultural/ethnic restrictions, social exclusion, and time constraints. On the other hand, a high dependency ratio and discrimination in access to resources are the most pressing constraints faced by male fish workers. The paper recommends that stakeholders should continue to offer support services to fish workers. In addition, lending institutions should make credit accessible at lower interest rates. Interventions by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and development agencies that aim to solve constraints of fish workers should be approached from a gender dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on qualitative data to examine gendered dynamics of remitting and remittance use in households in northern Ghana. The findings indicate that remitting and remittance use are shaped by the interaction of social norms on household provisioning and agency of household members. While social norms on gender roles and conjugality tend to shape patterns of remitting, the household context and the agency of the individual household members sometimes interact to produce remitting behaviours that are not consistent with the general patterns in the community. Gender roles prescribed by the conjugal contract may change when one partner migrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of African cities is characterised by sprawl, significantly impacting social, economic and environmental systems. The change in land use due to urban sprawl often dispossesses farmers in peri-urban communities, resulting in income loss. Focusing on social and ecological changes in peri-urban communities of Ghana, this paper sheds light on land use and land cover change stemming from urban sprawl. It is argued that land governance systems that shape resource access in peri-urban areas have been transformed with farming being the most impacted. Emerging livelihoods like sand winning further compounds a precarious situation. Women and youth are the most affected, with limited options for alternative occupations and uncertain futures. It is thus imperative that policy interventions prioritise sustainable land governance and urban planning, taking into account the needs and vulnerabilities of peri-urban communities, particularly women and youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to measure farmers' perceptions on climate variations, and examine the effects of such variations on cassava production in Ghana. Using a three-stage sampling technique involving cluster, stratified, and simple random sampling techniques, structured questionnaires were administered to 252 smallholder cassava farmers in the Awutu Senya District of the Central Region, Ghana. This was supplemented with focus group discussion sessions with male and female cassava farmers for the purpose of triangulating the quantitative and qualitative data. The study showed an overwhelming 98% of respondents, comprising 57% males, and 43% females, acknowledging to have noticed changes in the weather patterns over the last 30 years. While 85% of respondents said rainfall was decreasing, 75% said the rains did not come at the expected time, with 58% of them saying reduced rainy periods were the noticeable changes. Respondents attributed the changes in weather patterns to environmental degradation (72%), natural phenomenon (15%), and punishment by God (1%). Majority of them (97%) said they had suffered from decreasing yields in cassava as a result of seasonal variations in temperature and rainfall. The paper makes a strong case for activities that will bridge the knowledge-and-skill gap between male and female farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology & Society is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The floodplain of the Black Volta River traverses the Ghana-Burkina Faso international border and offers considerable potential for agriculture. Yet, it is a risk-filled landscape with acute vulnerability to flooding. This paper seeks to explain why agriculture in the floodplain remains so popular when it manifestly causes more problems. Data for the paper comes from empirical fieldwork using qualitative in-depth interviews (n = 68), which were analysed using a deductive coding approach. Overall, the findings suggest that mining-induced land displacement compels farmers to engage in floodplain agriculture despite heightened vulnerability to flooding. For landless women in particular, an additional pressure is gendered responsibilities in household food provisioning, as well as subjectivities linked to norms of being good wives, mothers, and daughters-in-law. To reduce agriculture's vulnerability to flooding, farmers often raise artificial levees on the floodplain or alter fields to drain water more quickly. The maladaptive outcomes of these practices are assessed in the paper, including rebounding vulnerability, shifting vulnerability, and destroying common pool resources. Ultimately, the paper makes two broader contributions. First, it demonstrates the importance in maladaptation analysis of paying attention to gendered subjectivities and the intersection with other social categories that can create heightened vulnerability. Second, the paper emphasizes how the causal structures of vulnerability need to form the foundation upon which maladaptation experiences are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the unprecedented feminization of agriculture globally, literature has emerged over the past decade suggesting that gender equality in agriculture could be advanced if gaps in access to farm resources between women and men are reduced. This paper examines gendered farm resource entitlements in northern Ghana. Based mainly on six months of immersive qualitative research, this case study draws from and contributes to feminist political ecology scholarship (FPE) on smallholder farming and agricultural development. The analysis describes some of the intensifying gender and intersecting inequalities (e.g., gender and ethnicity) of land access related to development interventions aimed at commercializing farming. Gender disparities in access to agricultural extension, chemical fertilizers, agrochemicals, high yielding seed varieties, tractor services, credit packages and marketing contracts supported by the state, donors and NGOs are also found. FPE is useful for revealing how these gendered resource disparities are related to agricultural commercialization and increasingly erratic rainfall and aridity, making smallholders more vulnerable to land dispossession. Women's dependence on men to farm while operating under these changing economic and environmental conditions, coupled with their weaker entitlement rights to resources, threatens to push many, particularly ethnic minority women, out of farming altogether. The ways that intersecting identities shape access to land also complicates understandings of the role of community outsiders who are both the dispossessors of land and those who are intensely vulnerable to dispossession. While rural development studies generally consider women's farm resources compared to men's, this does little to explain the intensifying intersectional vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper sought to examine factors affecting the level of adoption of technologies transferred to farmers in the Modernisation of Agriculture in Ghana Project (MAG) from gender and power relations perspectives. Results of the study indicate a high rate of adoption of rice and maize technologies by both male and female farmers. Factors influencing adoption include extension service delivery, membership in farmer-based organisation (FBOs), and age. The likelihood of adoption of technologies increased with being a female farmer compared to being a male farmer. There was a discriminatory access to production resources such as land and tractor services against female farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate gender, equality and inclusion within Ghana through the examination of legislations, policies and programmes. The paper evaluates what governments, international organisations and civil society groups have been marshalling towards addressing issues around the world of work, with particular focus on gender diversity, equality and inclusion in Ghana. The paper highlights the fact that gender objectives have gained recognition and public policy momentum, yet gender segregation, wage inequality and low participation rates for females in tertiary education and the professional workforce do not match the rhetoric of the policy pronouncements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Participation in labour markets and high-value crops among men and women smallholder farmers has always been an important strategy for poverty alleviation and attainment of food and income security. In contributing to the generation of gender-disaggregated empirical literature, this paper examined determinants of women smallholder farmers’ participation in their households’ decision-making regarding cash crop production. Methodology:Data for the paper were sourced from a baseline survey conducted by Monitory and Evaluation Technical Support Services, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research and Ghana Statistical Service for the USAID Feed the Future Programme in their Northern Ghana Zone of Influence. The data were analysed using probit regression analysis to identify factors which significantly influence women farmers’ participation in cash crop production. Findings:The probit analysis identified intra-household power relations such as women participation in household decision-making, control over household productive resources and control over household income as significant determinants of smallholder women farmers’ participation in cash crop production. Theoretical Implication:Improving women smallholder farmers’ power to participate in household decision-making, access to and control over household productive resources and income are therefore imperative in boosting women farmers’ participation in cash crop production. Practical Implications:It is therefore recommended that any gender-targeted policy and programme with the aim of women’s economic empowerment must critically examine the sociocultural barriers impeding women’s participation in their household decision-making and control over household productive resources. Women farmers’ participation in their households’ decision-making regarding cash crop production and the use of income generated from it should be encouraged through gender mainstreaming in agricultural service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A critical component of evaluations of the effectiveness of intimate partner violence prevention programmes involves understanding pathways of change among individuals who participate in such programmes, and the intervention or contextual elements that support or hinder these. This paper draws on qualitative evaluations of four intimate partner violence prevention programmes in Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Tajikistan conducted as part of the What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Programme. Using a comparative case study approach, a secondary analysis was applied to thematically analysed data to explore how and why men and women change in response to different types of programmes across diverse contexts. Similar pathways of change were identified including the value of learning and applying relationship skills to support equitable, non-violent relationships; the importance of participatory approaches to challenge harmful gender norms and allow for group rapport; and the integration of economic empowerment activities to reduce drivers of intimate partner violence and conflict, and promote participants' self-confidence and status. These findings provide insights regarding intervention design and implementation factors pertinent to bring about changes in intimate partner violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the gender dimensions of climate change adaptation strategies among small holder crop farmers in the transition zone of Ghana. A total of 612 farmers (328 females and 284 males) were interviewed using purposive sampling technique. Our results indicate that adaptation strategies are gendered with men mostly resorting to on-farm agronomic practices such as the use of artificial fertilizers and also moving into new cash crops. Female farmers also use similar on-farm agronomic practices particularly artificial fertilizers to boost crop production but most importantly resorted to petty trading in agricultural and consumable goods, an off-farm strategy. This shows women's resilience which has also subsequently improved their decision-making role at the household level, which is an indicator of empowerment. We recommend that institutions that support climate change adaptation initiatives at the local level must take gender differences into consideration and support particularly women to strengthen their resilience and consolidate their empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In postcolonial societies, emancipation and empowerment are often dialectically situated within colonial discourses of oppression and disempowerment. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the potential of religious institutions to contribute positively to women's liberation is highly debatable. In particular, women's ability to interpret Christian religious doctrine to advance their desire for equal rights depends largely on other leveraging factors such as education and socioeconomic status. This paper discusses field research findings in Ghana that suggest that while Christian religious ideologies reinforce cultural beliefs about women's subservience, participants in this study find that critical engagements with religious or cultural ideologies can contribute to deconstructing patriarchal interpretations of religious or cultural beliefs that marginalize women. These interpretations of otherwise oppressive provisions in the Bible are found to contribute to women's activism for gender equality in terms of their conception of what constitutes equality and the divine backing for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores issues emerging from the authors' experiences of collaborative research in Ghana, by researchers from a Ghanaian and a British university. The text emerges from discussions between partners and in retrospective reflection on the research process. It is constructed by bringing together personal accounts of the different authors in which their identities shift and are reconstructed in the process of the research. Multiple perspectives across gender, nationality and institutional context create three fault lines to disturb the research process: the initiation of the research, the methodological engagement of the team with each other and the subjects, and the way these are played out in practical issues. The paper explores the problems created by the instabilities created but suggests that they open up spaces for decolonizing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve equitable sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI), it is essential to understand differential access and control over agricultural resources by women and youth, and to assess how intensification interacts with gendered and age-dependent relationships. Existing packages for assessing women's empowerment in agriculture tend to be large-scale surveys that do not provide timely results, nor are they easily integrated into a gender-transformative process. This paper applies concepts from Kabeer on gender analysis and empowerment to evaluate promising tools available for assessing inequities in SAI and supporting a gender-transformative approach. We interviewed decision makers in Malawi and Ghana to understand their needs and practices for equityanalysis. We evaluated, adapted and tested tools to detect inequities from SAI. Our results demonstrate the suitability of tools to decision makers' needs for ex-ante assessment and early detection of disparities. We synthesize information from the testing and adaptation of tools about the resources required, the equity issues they can reveal and their potential role in a gender-transformative approach. The use of the tools needs to be part of an inclusive and culturally specific process for identifying gaps and facilitating a more equitable sharing of SAI responsibilities and benefits through iterative cycles of action and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws upon recent research that explored Muslim youth identity constructions in southern Ghana. At a time when Muslim youth are often demonised and Islam is represented as incompatible with western democratic ideals, the research explored the intersections of nation, religion, ethnicity and gender in identity narratives of female students in high school and higher education in southern Ghana. After describing the Ghanaian socio-historical context, we outline the post-structural and post-colonial theories used to understand key concepts such as identity and youth. We then describe our methodological approach before presenting our intersectional analysis of data from the focus group discussions. This highlights female youths' deep commitments to nation and religion, the marginalisation of young Muslim females in this Christian-majority context, and finally, the identity tensions articulated by participants between different Islamic traditions. We further show how all of these identity constructions were intersected by gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Shaboman' is an ironic self-designated nickname, used by young male band musicians who rush from one gig to another in Accra, Ghana. Being active in diverse musical genres (gospel, highlife, brass, neo-traditional, [afro-]pop), they pursue professional aspirations with dedication, favor wistful romantic love songs, and train girls how to play musical instruments. As these young men present a contrast to dominant narratives on young African men, this paper aims to disrupt and complexify such masternarratives by documenting various facets of masculinities the instrumentalists (aged between 20 and 32) perform in their music practice. In the process, microprocesses of gender production in popular music are traced. Based on extensive ethnographic work in Accra between 2013 and 2018, the analysis draws on two distinct bodies of theoretical work: on cultural performance and performativity of gender in music (Butler; Madison and Hamera 2005; Livermon 2014a, 2014b); and on insights from studies on gender and masculinities in Ghanaian popular music (Asante-Darko and Van der Geest 1983; Adomako Ampofo and Asiedu 2012; Shipley 2013a). Contextualizing the shabomen's staged masculinities among a variety of other manly ideals in Ghanaian popular culture, I highlight how acts of maintaining and subverting gender conventions are intertwined in popular music practice. Furthermore, I depict how gender performances are linked to age group, and to place and belonging at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the gendered implications of Africa's transport gap (the lack of cheap, regular and reliable transport) for young people in rural Ghana, with particular reference to the linkages between restricted mobility, household work demands, access to education and livelihood potential. Our aim is to show how mobility constraints, especially as these interact with household labour demands, restrict young people's access to education and livelihood opportunities. Firstly, the paper considers the implications of the direct constraints on young people's mobility potential as they travel to school. Then it examines young people's (mostly unpaid) labour contributions, which are commonly crucial to family household production and reproduction, including those associated with the transport gap. This has especially important implications for girls, on whom the principal onus lies to help adult women carry the heavy burden of water, firewood, and agricultural products required for household use. Such work can impact significantly on their educational attendance and performance in school and thus has potential knock-on impacts for livelihoods. Distance from school, when coupled with a heavy workload at home will affect attendance, punctuality and performance at school: it may ultimately represent the tipping point resulting in a decision to withdraw from formal education. Moreover, the heavy burden of work and restricted mobility contributes to young people's negative attitudes to agriculture and rural life and encourages urban migration. Drawing on research from rural case study sites in two regions of Ghana, we discuss ethnographic material from recent interviews with children and young people, their parents, teachers and other key informants, supported by information from an associated survey with children ca. 9–18 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water shortages may present different and diverse implications for gender subgroups particularly in low-income settings. Yet, little research has documented the gendered livelihood implications of water shortages in Ghana. Based on a cross-sectional mixed method research involving a survey of 250 household heads and complemented with a qualitative study of 86 participants, the paper examines the differential effects of sporadic water supply in Tatale-Sanguli District of Northern Ghana. Our findings suggest that the livelihood effects of sporadic water supply in Tatale-Sanguli area are gendered, with females being disproportionately affected as compared to males. These differential effects are often framed by both gender role differentiation and inequities in access to vital productive resources and critical assets such as bicycles, tricycles and motor bikes. These findings highlight not only the need for local government and non-governmental organisations to step up efforts in water provision, but also to recognise the gendered effects of water shortages in Tatale-Sanguli District. Key to policy is also to ensure that programmatic interventions during water shortages take account of the likely gendered effects and differentiated burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:We investigated how information resource diversification can enhance smallholder agricultural knowledge in Ghana. Design/Methodology/Approach:Study tools and methods were questionnaire survey (N = 200), focus group discussion (N = 1), in-depth interviews (N = 18) and field direct observation. Findings:This study shows there existed diversity of information resources in Hohoe. This diversity was, however, devoid of a broad integration process to enhance smallholder access to and use of agricultural information. We demonstrate that new information channels or sources cannot function independently, but rather through an integrated approach that relies on a human facet of extension. Practical Implications:We illustrate the need for integrated extension that includes interactive field modules such as basic cell phone decision guides that support smallholder construction of solutions for their circumstances. This process requires new sets of smallholder skills and holistic extension schemes that diversify information resources through incorporation and adaptation, rather than substitution. New information resources can only be gradually mainstreamed through integration with more familiar extension means. They need a human interface because smallholder householders did not require same types and/or amounts of information. Human interface is essential to ensure critical groups including women access and utilise agricultural information resources, but without entrenching unfair task allocations among smallholder householders. Originality/Value:This paper illustrates how extension can be strengthened through new approaches. However, new approaches such as use of basic cell phones cannot be standalone processes; they require a human interface and an integrated process. The article presents actual data collected from the Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Sub-Saharan Africa, empirical evidence has shown that irrigation can have positive impacts on agricultural production and farm incomes. This study uses a rigorous propensity score matching analysis applied to clustered data from two state-led and two farmer-led irrigation examples in Ghana to quantitatively evaluate the intersectional impacts of different types of irrigation on multiple dimensions of farmers' livelihoods. The results of our study indicate that although farmer-led irrigation enhances farmer incomes, this does not necessarily translate into poverty alleviation and prosperity. Furthermore, impacts on young men, young women and adult women are of a different nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of mobile money on intra-household employment diversification in Ghana using data from the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Surveys. The study relies on several econometric models including instrumental variables and shows that mobile money has a statistically significant and positive effect on the probability to diversify employment irrespective of whether diversification is measured across paid employment, household farm and household nonfarm activities or across agriculture, industry and services sectors. Additionally, it was found that mobile money positively affects the extent of employment diversification across paid employment, farm and nonfarm activities. These effects, however, largely pertain to rural communities with null effects for urban communities. A statistically significant and positive effects are found for both male and female headed households although the magnitude of the effect generally tend be slightly higher for male headed households. The findings suggest that policies that promote mobile money adoption and usage can deepen employment diversification, and hence, may help protect or improve household welfare, particularly in rural areas. The study therefore makes a significant contribution on mobile money's impact on household diversification and whether the impact varies by the forms of diversification, gender and locality of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and institutionalization of feminist geography in Ghana was in tandem with the global feminist movement in the 1970s and its subsequent international women's conferences. This paper discusses the pioneering work and research at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, and its effect on the institutionalization and diffusion of feminist geography in Ghana. Through research and external collaborations, the need for gender as an academic discipline was strongly argued for and instituted as an undergraduate course at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana. These external collaborations with other feminist geographers in international geography associations and universities served as a boost as they created opportunities for highlighting the spatial variations in the role and situation of particularly women's lives in Ghana. Subsequently, there was a diffusion of feminist geography research and its institutionalization as an academic sub-discipline in Geography departments in other Ghanaian universities. These notwithstanding, the departments of Geography in Ghanaian universities are still dominated by male faculty members. Moreover, research work has been mainly in the field of human geography more than the physical aspects calling for the mainstreaming of gender issues in all the systematic branches of the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, increasingly recognized as a hurdle to achieving sustainable development goals, has already begun impacting the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, including on the African continent. Vulnerability is a concept often employed in the context of climate change to identify risks and develop policy and adaptation measures that address current and projected impacts. However, it is situated in a broader social context, driven by factors such as land tenure and access, livelihood diversification, and empowerment, which single out historically marginalized groups like women. This paper applies a vulnerability framework to a case study of cocoa farming in the Central Region of Ghana, depicting not only the variety of factors contributing to climate change vulnerability but also different narratives on vulnerability that emerge based on a woman's relation to cocoa production itself. The paper conveys how homogeneous representations of women farmers and the technical focus of climate-orientated policy interventions may threaten to further marginalize the most vulnerable and exacerbate existing inequalities. This has implications for both climate change policy design and implementation, as well as the broader social development agenda that has bearing on vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores gender aspects of smallholders’ private technology adoption for groundwater irrigation in Ghana and Zambia. It focuses on two variables of quantitative farm-household surveys: household headship and gendered plot management. The paper compares adoption rates and types of technologies for female- and male-headed households; examines adoption rates when women have their own plots; and compares women’s decision making on irrigated plots and rainfed plots. The findings suggest that there are largely untapped synergies between gender-equality and irrigation-policy goals. Systematic gender differentiation in surveys is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education policy and research tend to be dominated by the messaging systems of the North. De Sousa Santos argues that we need to start listening to the South and that we need to develop a sociology of absences. This paper attempts to engage with some of these absences by deconstructing participation in higher education, in quantitative and qualitative terms, in Ghana and Tanzania. The paper is based on interim findings from a research project on Economic and Social Research Council/Department for International Development-funded research project on Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard (www.sussex.ac.uk/education/wideningparticipation). It argues that, while globally the higher education sector has become associated with economic development and the hyper modernisation of the knowledge economy, some archaic patterns of participation appear to be continuing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been a dominant migration stream from north to south in Ghana of female youths, moving independently of their families, and mainly towards the cities of Accra and Kumasi. Young girls from rural areas, particularly the northern regions move to markets in urban centres to serve as kayayei, female porters, who carry goods on their heads for a negotiated fee. Away from support from their home communities and families, most end up living and working under very poor conditions and are exposed to both physical and reproductive health risks. The paper examines the characteristics of young female migrants working as head load porters (kayayei) in three markets in Accra and their livelihood strategies as they move into the wage market. It also examines the processes through which migration is used to address livelihood needs through an analysis of the intersecting social relations of gender, poverty and vulnerability. It discusses the survival strategies used to overcome poverty and to deal with issues of risk and vulnerability, especially in respect of their reproductive and health rights. The implications for migration policies and poverty reduction strategies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of ‘social difference’ for schooling in African contexts. It highlights theoretical and philosophical engagements with ‘difference’ that could help explore and search for viable educational options in Africa. The paper engages voices of university students interviewed in a longitudinal ethnographic research study on schooling done in Ghana. Issues and questions about knowledge production, identity development and representation in pluralistic schooling contexts are raised. Insights about local knowledges, individual agency and resistance as they relate to possibilities for rethinking schooling and education in Africa are also explored. The students' narratives reveal how dialogues about school and educators' practices about difference and diversity are [not] addressed with respect to the students' schooling. Lessons on the possibilities of inclusive schooling environments are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on preliminary fieldwork conducted in Ghana and The Gambia on the interrelationships among youth, gender and livelihoods. We examine how policy in developing countries, typically characterised as related to child labour or education, needs to emphasise the linkage across processes that affect young people. We argue that policy will be improved if young people are given voice to express how work, education, social networks, and culturally-bound notions of responsibility are linked and how they perceive the opportunities and constraints on their ‘life chances’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is impossible to understand the gendered relation between women and public space without taking into account its other, that is, male engagements with and in space. Our joint paper contrasts the public spaces of a market and a bus station in central Accra, Ghana. While the former is historically associated with female entrepreneurship, masculinity is deeply inscribed in the activities defining the latter. However, recent developments gradually undermine these gendered divides. By focusing on interpersonal claims to entrepreneurial places in the two locations, we illustrate how the configurations and co-constructions of gender and space are exposed to on-going, often subtle shifts, which are impelled by dialectically grounded transformations of quotidian spatial practices and social relations. Expanding upon the notion of viri–/uxorilocality, we explore shifts in the gendered strategies of newcomers establishing their presence in the two spaces and the extent to which these practices may alter gendered spatial significations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The vision of food sovereignty calls for radical changes in agricultural, political and social systems related to food. These changes also entail addressing inequalities and asymmetries of power in gender relations. While women’s rights are seen as central to food sovereignty, given the key role women play in food production, procurement and preparation, family food security, and food culture, few attempts have been made to systematically integrate gender in food sovereignty analysis. This paper uses case studies of corporate agricultural expansion to highlight the different dynamics of incorporation and struggle in relation to women’s and men’s different position, class and endowments. These contribute to processes of social differentiation and class formation, creating rural communities more complex and antagonistic than those sketched in food sovereignty discourse and neo-populist claims of peasant egalitarianism, cooperation and solidarity. Proponents of food sovereignty need to address gender systematically, as a strategic element of its construct and not only as a mobilising ideology. Further, if food sovereignty is to have an intellectual future within critical agrarian studies, it must reconcile the inherent contradictions of the ‘we are all the same’ discourse, taking analysis of social differences as a starting point. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Migration scholars should give attention to migration as seen through children's eyes for at least two reasons. Firstly, children's perspectives help us to understand whether or not children are being socialised into their community's culture of migration, a culture which shapes migration patterns and flows. Secondly, given that some children migrate and some children are left behind by migrant parents or relatives, children's imaginings of whether they as children ought to migrate affect where the responsibility and costs for their care will be located between family members, countries and states. In this paper I examine how children aged 8–22 in a town in southern Ghana imagine life abroad, conceptualise the timing of migration in their life-course, and articulate their goals in migrating. I use this rich material as a case study for exploring the wider issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While in many places same-sex cultures revolve around politically charged subcultural understandings, this paper explores conceptualizations of female same-sex desire beyond constructions of lesbian identity. It looks at a set of practices forged by women who are involved in intimate same-sex relationships in southern Ghana and examines how their self-understandings resist and intersect with the derogatory media representations that frame them. A key term to these representations is the term supi. It implies a close friendship between two adolescent girls, whether or not their relationship has a sexual dimension. In spite of rising tides of homophobia that impact such female intimacies, two factors still allow for the creation of niches for same-sex intimacy: first, southern Ghanaian cultures draw on norms of verbal indirection and discretion, which allow for the concealment of non-normative sexual conduct. Secondly, homosocial spaces of intimacy provide an environment in which female same-sex bonds are expressed through a language of allusion rather than a specialist, subcultural vocabulary. Erotic context is formed through practice and performance and is not discursively named or understood as a social identity. Rather, these understandings of female same-sex passions revolve around the notion of secrecy and are based on tacit but vibrant forms of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary times there has been a broader definition of poverty to include not only economic deprivation such as income, but also various forms of vulnerability such as lack of dignity and autonomy. The paper seeks to bring out the multidimensionality of poverty from the perspective of both men and women in the Dangme West District of Ghana, through their day-to-day experiences of poverty and how this leads to different livelihood strategies among men and women. It is argued that gender inequalities, the patriarchal system and the traditional gender roles of women create a situation where women's experiences of poverty tend to be more severe than those of men. The author recommends that specific policies geared towards poverty reduction must address the needs and concerns of both men and women. Thus, men and women must be involved in defining projects that reflect their local realities and this must be backed by vigorous gender sensitization and awareness programmes. Engendering poverty reduction programmes with gender sensitization and awareness programmes will go a long way to address patriarchal attitudes and gender inequalities that create poverty particularly among women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls' enrolment in primary schools has achieved significant increase and parity with male enrolment in many countries in Africa since the 1960s. Some of these countries include Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania. However, in most Sub-Saharan African countries, female enrolment still lags behind male enrolment. This paper examines some of the reasons for the persistent gender gap between females and males in the three African countries of Ghana, Nigeria and Togo within the West Africa sub-region. It discusses gender relations, cultural practices such as early marriage, child slavery, and child fostering/trafficking, poverty and multiple household duties for girls as some of the contributing factors. It is argued that unless these cultural beliefs and attitudes are changed and mandatory measures such as holding parents accountable and responsible are put in place, gender parity and quality education for all, especially for females, will not be achieved in Africa. A number of additional strategies for improvement in school attendance and retention for females are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines different types of diversity among farm households in Wenchi, Ghana, and their relevance and implications for orienting action research aimed at combating soil fertility decline. Previously reported research suggested that cropping systems and indigenous practices affecting soil fertility differed significantly between and among the native population and migrants. These differences were associated with prevailing land tenure arrangements. This paper refines the native/ migrant classification by exploring how it is intertwined with aspects such as ethnicity, gender and wealth. The study revealed that historical, ethnic and gender dimensions of diversity provide additional insights into livelihood patterns and soil fertility management which are relevant for fine-tuning technical and social action research agendas. It is argued that relevant differences between farm households result from the interplay between structural conditions and the strategies of active agents. The implication of the study is that action research efforts to design new technology and social arrangements for addressing soil fertility decline must be re-oriented and tailored further to meet the needs and aspirations of particular sub-groups of migrants and natives. Most significantly, it appears that the feasibility of negotiating alternative land tenure arrangements differs among different groups of migrants depending on whether they regard their stay as permanent or temporal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable environment offers many benefits to individuals and societies. As a result, the agenda to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in order to mitigate climate change remains a global concern. Researchers, policymakers and governments have shown interest in this regard. Empirical studies on the subject matter have been increasing conflicting results and little evidence on the effects of some variables necessitate for further studies. To offer value to the literature, in this study, the effect of female population, urbanization and trade openness on carbon dioxide emission in Ghana is assessed. The study used the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, & Technology (STIRPAT) model as the foundation for empirical modelling. Time-series data spanning from 1971–2021 were used for regression analysis. In both long run and short run periods, urbanization was noted to exert positive influence on carbon dioxide emission while trade openness and female population exert a negative effect on carbon dioxide emission. Thus, growth in urbanization increases carbon dioxide emission while the opposite effect is the case for trade openness and the female population. Findings from the study suggest the need to intensify the empowerment of women, which could be a crucial catalyst for the achievement of Ghana's nationally determined contributions toward CO2 reduction. Also, international trade negotiations that promote environmental protection should not be relaxed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at investigating the nexus between unemployment and remittances in Ghana, with a focus on the gender perspective. Using time-series data spanning from 1990 to 2021, the ARDL model is estimated. According to the findings, remittances, inflation, FDI, exports of goods and services, and gross capital formation all have a long-run association with the unemployment rate. Remittances positively correlate with unemployment in the long run. All else being equal, remittances in Ghana tend to also increase female unemployment in the long run. In the short run, while the contemporaneous coefficient is negative, the lagged remittance positively correlates with the unemployment rate in Ghana. The lagged remittance further positively correlates with female and male unemployment in the short run. Finally, we also found a mediating effect of GDP on remittances in reducing the unemployment rate in Ghana. The study therefore recommends that, for remittances to reduce unemployment in the short run, policymakers ought to incentivize deposits of remittances in Ghanaian banks using attractive interest rates. As a result, this might encourage savings, investment, and economic growth, which would eventually result in a decrease in the unemployment rate in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of demographic characteristics on graduates' perceptions of employability skills in Ghana. Three demographic characteristics—gender, educational level and sector of national service were used against nine employability skills. The explanatory sequential design from the pragmatists' philosophical paradigm was adopted for the study. A sample of 2269 national service persons and 363 employers at workplaces where graduates had their national service was drawn from a study population of 77,962. Thirty participants, including 17 graduates and 13 employers, were also interviewed. Data were collected with the help of a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics such as means, standard deviations, Pearson correlation matrix and independent sample t-test. The study found three most important employability skills to employers: the ability to work under pressure with less supervision, the application of computer and technical skills, and processing and interpreting numerical data. A novel finding of the study was that gender and academic qualification were found to have significantly influenced the application of computer and technical skills, numerical data, ability to work under pressure, and entrepreneurial skills. Male graduates had more appreciation for mathematical and information and communication technology (ICT)-related employability skills, while female graduates had a more positive inclination towards emotional intelligence skills and written and verbal communication skills. It was recommended that more attention be given to a partnership between academic institutions, the national service secretariat and the industry to avoid a mismatch between employability skills acquired by graduates and employers' requirements. The findings of this study, therefore, have implications for teaching pedagogies at tertiary levels and training for job entrants by industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the willingness to pay (WTP) for index-based drought insurance coupled with agricultural loans by product design and gender, using a contingent valuation method. The empirical estimations reveal several important findings. First, females have lower mean WTP than male farmers for each product design. Second, females do not express preference differences between insured loan product designs while males do. In fact, males prefer insured loans that make payouts directly to them and prefer insured loans without design risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cocoa farmers in Ghana are aging, and this threatens the sustainability of the sector. Using a qualitative approach, this study assessed how the youth-centred training programme has changed existing negative perceptions on youth participation in cocoa farming. The results confirmed that youth disinterest in cocoa farming is partly influenced by the perception that cocoa farming is an activity for the aged. The positive effect of applying the knowledge and skills beneficiaries received in enhancing the quality of cocoa farms and improving cocoa yield have changed existing negative public perceptions. Youth-centred interventions inspire hope in the revitalisation of Ghana's cocoa sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares estimates of household food insecurity between men and women living within the same household (n = 866) to assess whether there is a gender bias in reporting. The main research question is, do household food insecurity scores and prevalence categories differ between male and female spouses within households in the sample? Findings indicate that men's household food insecurity estimates were lower on average at 3.49, than women's estimates at 5.06. There is also a statistically significant decrease in men's estimates when compared to women's. Overall, these findings question the reliability of household-level food insecurity measures that rely on heads of households' estimations by pointing to discrepancies found in this reporting between husbands and wives within the same household. Since this study sampled married women and men within the same household, gender differences found are also more directly attributable to gender than in most other studies that compare male and female-headed households' food insecurity reporting. Though further assessments across other cases are needed, more reliable measures of household food insecurity could include averaging estimates of multiple individuals within households. Qualitative research into the gendered dynamics could also improve sampling and the interpretation of findings from surveys on household-level measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant theoretical framework for analyzing migration in Africa rests on the assumption of cooperative intrahousehold decision making regarding the mobility of household members. This framework, applied to women's migration, overlooks the varied decision-making processes underlying their mobility, and obscures their ability to act as purposeful agents in making decisions about migration. Drawing on a study of women's rural–urban migration in Ghana, this article argues that women's migration decisions exist on a continuum defined by the presence or absence of intrahousehold contestation and the degree of agency exercised by the migrants themselves. Consequently, household models of migration may not always be the appropriate theoretical framework for the analysis of women's migration in this context. The findings presented have implications for economic analyses of women's migration and remittances, for our understanding of migrant women's capacity for agency, and for the design of effective policies to improve migration outcomes for women. HIGHLIGHTS The study directly elicits information from women about their migration decisions. Women's migration is the outcome of complex decision-making processes. The dichotomy between household and individual models of migration ignores these complexities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the financial wellbeing experiences of digital payment systems in Ghana, an emerging economy, using a case study with special emphasis on gender and age. Quantitative data were obtained from customers and mobile money agents operating in two poor rural districts. The study established a significant positive connection between security and satisfaction, ease of use and satisfaction, and convenience and satisfaction in relation to digital payment systems in emerging markets. Also, customer satisfaction mediates trust and the digital payment experience of the poor. The findings also revealed that customer experience of digital payment systems differs based on gender and age categories. Males appeared to value ease of use rather than great customer experience, whereas females valued security over great customer experience. Great customer experience leads to stronger trust levels among female users than males. Also, younger users were more concerned with issues of convenience, while older customers placed a higher premium on security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the influence of job-client gender context and personal characteristics on sexual harassment vulnerability of hotel employees in Accra, Ghana. Data for the study were solicited from 583 employees working in 55 hotels and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test of independence and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Result of the study indicates that young and unmarried front office and food and beverage female employees are relatively predisposed to sexual harassment in hotel workplaces. Sexual harassment victimization in the hotel workspaces is associated with daily routine activities of employees as well as demographic characteristics whereas job-client gender context appears limited in explaining the sexual harassment vulnerability of hotel employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the Forum on Commercializing Agriculture/Reorganizing Gender, which reports findings from DEMETER project, a collaboration of scholars from Cambodia, Ghana and Switzerland. The project examines how agriculture and food security policies have advanced or hindered gender equality and the right to food; analyzes the role of human rights-based accountability mechanisms in this; and maps gendered changes in livelihoods in situated contexts. We offer a literature review on governance of the international food system from a gender and rights perspective, and on the gendered political economy of agrarian change. We relate the contributions of the Forum to existing literature and preview their findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a comparative mixed methods approach involving two districts each in Southern and Northern Ghana, this article addresses the question: under what conditions, and at what scale does smallholder agricultural commercialisation promote or hinder food security? Specifically, it presents an analysis of how gender and spatial inequalities in resource control determine differential capacities to commercialise and the implications of agricultural commercialisation for food security in an export commodity dominated Southern Ghana versus a food crop dominated Northern Ghana. We found gender gaps in commercialisation capacity that did not seem to disappear even in the presence of land abundance because the gaps are structural. We also found that, in some contexts, high rates of commercialisation do not mean accumulation. Among females in parts of Northern Ghana, apparent high commercialisation rates are driven by necessity, and thus constitutes 'distress push commercialisation', which has negative food security implications. While we found no evidence of an overall positive association between commercialisation and food security, we show that in the export crop dominated high commercialisation zone of Southern Ghana, commercialisation enhances food security only up to a threshold above which further resource allocation towards non-food cash crops hurts food security because of inefficient food markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Cambodia and Ghana, the promotion of women's equal rights to food and land has occurred in parallel with processes of trade liberalization and agricultural commercialization. This article considers how a feminist methodology that foregrounds the right to food and inter-related human rights could identify the inequalities engendered and sustained in rural communities through neo-liberal agricultural development. An explicitly feminist approach to the implementation of the right to food demands that we focus on dynamic, intersectional and contexualized relations of power to go beyond the top-down, apolitical and technical focus of mainstream laws and policies on gender and agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does sustainable agricultural intensification's (SAI) tenet of increased productivity on the same area of land relate to prevailing gender-biased land tenure systems? How can one conceptualize the interactions between intensified land use and control over land, labour, crops and benefits – and how can equitable outcomes be facilitated? These questions (which have not yet received sufficient attention in SAI research) are explored in this study using a qualitative methodology and a gender-transformative approach. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with a total of 248 respondents were conducted in matrilineal and patrilineal intensification contexts in Ghana and Malawi. We develop a conceptual framework that extends Kabeer's institutional analysis to include gender implications of SAI. Selected cases reveal how farmers and key actors link land use intensification to existing land-related institutions with diverse outcomes. We conclude that SAI interventions should adopt gender-transformative approaches. These facilitate equitable outcomes by supporting consensus-based institutional changes and creating positive synergies between multiple scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]