Gendered poverty in Northern Ghana : multiple problems, few solutions

The study explores the nature of gender disparities in terms of livelihoods and ownership in northern Ghana. It also provides a descriptive analysis of the impact of poverty on women in this area. The study shows that women in northern Ghana are still living in poverty, forty-eight years after Ghana's independence and despite strategies that women are employing to cope with the challenges of poverty. It demonstrates that increasing poverty is the major cause of malnutrition, and maternal and child mortality. A random stratified sample methodology was used in selecting communities and households for the study. Some of the findings show that only five percent of women in northern Ghana enjoy access to employment and only four percent receive a regular income. In addition, women are accorded inadequate land ownership rights and there is an increasing migration of women from the rural north to the urban south of Ghana.