Survival or escaping poverty: the perspectives of poverty and well-being among Ghanaian women in cross-border trading

Abstract

Trading is one of the strategies that Ghanaian women have adopted to overcome poverty and improve their well-being. Using in-depth interviews, this study examines the specific commercial activities that are undertaken by women in cross-border trading, the coping strategies that they use to address the difficulties that confront them, the impact of women's trading activities on their lives, and how these are linked to their subjective understanding of poverty and well-being. The analysis shows that women can lift themselves out of poverty through informal cross-border trading activities in spite of the challenges and risks they face. Such trading activities have enabled them to support themselves and to meet the needs of their households, and this has created a sense of life satisfaction, happiness, and self-fulfilment. The study recommends that trade and trade-related programmes developed at a national level must include the needs and concerns of female cross-border traders. This should include educational and sensitization programmes on trade laws and women's rights issues.

Keywords::

• cross-border trade
• gender
• Ghana
• poverty
• women's well-being

Notes

^1. Twi is a common local language widely spoken and understood in Ghana.

^2. ‘Sisters’ here is used to refer to women in similar circumstances and friends, not blood-relatives.

^3. ‘Waybill’ here means an official list of items the women are carrying or transporting.

^4. This is an informal savings and credit association where groups of individuals come together to save and borrow in turns. In Africa and Ghana in particular this has been a long tradition of informal savings, credit, and insurance arrangements (Nikoi 1998).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charlotte Wrigley-Asante

Charlotte Wrigley-Asante has a PhD in Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Master's degree in Human Geography from the University of Oslo, Norway. She is a lecturer in the department of Geography and Resource Development at the University of Ghana, Legon. Prior to her appointment as lecturer, Charlotte worked as a development officer, trainer, and researcher with special interests in gender and poverty issues in rural areas of Ghana. In the field of development, she has provided professional advice and services in the area of gender to a number of governmental, non-governmental, and international organizations such as Plan Ghana, Care International, and International Labour Organization (ILO). Her research areas include gender, poverty, and natural resources management; women and cross-border trade issues in Ghana; and child labour issues in cocoa plantations in Ghana. Charlotte is a member of Women Organizing for Change in Natural Resources Management (WOCAN), an international network of women and men professionals who are dedicated to increasing rural women's access to and control of resources to manage agriculture and natural resources so as to enhance their livelihoods and reduce poverty.