THE NORTH-SOUTH MOVEMENT OF YOUNG FEMALES IN GHANA AND ITS EFFECTS ON THEIR WELFARE: A CASE STUDY OF FEMALE HEAD PORTERS IN THE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT OF KUMASI By Afriyie, Kwadwo Kwarteng, Sandra Amoah

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THE NORTH-SOUTH MOVEMENT OF YOUNG FEMALES IN
GHANA AND ITS EFFECTS ON THEIR WELFARE
A CASE STUDY OF
FEMALE HEAD PORTERS IN THE CENTRAL BUSINESS
DISTRICT OF KUMASIBy Afriyie, KwadwoKwarteng,
Sandra Amoah Boateng, MichealThe Annual
Conference of the Ghana Geographical Association,
1st -4th August, 2012, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana.
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Introduction

• Migration is a global phenomenon with between 50
  and 100 million people living outside their
  country of origin against the worlds population
  of 6.314 billion (Kelo and Wachter, 2004).
• West Africa is one of the few regions where
  relatively large-scale free movement of people
  take place (Zachariah and Conde, 1981) and
  internal migration accounts for most of the
  migratory movements (Ackah and Medvedev, 2010).
• In Ghana, migration is an important component of
  peoples livelihood strategies. Annually, Ghanas
  net migration rate (in-migrants minus
  out-migrants) is 55 persons per 100,000
  inhabitants (World Fact Book, 2007).

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• Internal migration is dominant in Ghana. About
  1.2 million people changed their place of
  residence within Ghana between 1995-2000 (GSS,
  2000).
• The movement is basically from North to South of
  Ghana due to regional disparities in terms of
  development.
• The movement has been done mostly by male adults
  to take advantage of the opportunities in the
  mining and cocoa-growing areas in the South.

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• Recently, movements are all-year round and
  involves the youth, particularly, females from
  the North to southern cities, notably Accra,
  Kumasi and Secondi-Takoradi to engage in various
  economic activities including kayayie (Kwankye et
  al 2007)
• This migration stream led to an increase in the
  number of children working on the street to
  800,000 in 2000 (Ministry of Employment and
  Social Welfare , 2000)
• Girls as young as 8 years old work as head
  porters and end up living and working under very
  poor conditions which makes them vulnerable to
  physical and reproductive health risks,
  especially STDs.

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• Therefore, the study assesses the working
  conditions and characteristics of young female
  migrants working as head porters (kayayei) in the
  central business district (CBD) of Kumasi.
• This assessment is achieved by
• - exploring the factors which influence the
  porters decision to migrate to the CBD
• - investigating whether the migrants are
  better off upon arrival, considering living
  conditions at the source and destination regions
• - examining the challenges the porters face at
  the destination region

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Methodology

• The mixed method of quantitative and qualitative
  data collection and analysis was employed for the
  study.
• A total of ninety (90) female head porters were
  accidentally selected and interviewed at Adum,
  Kejetia and Central Market in Kumasi.
• The study employed accidental sampling because
  the head porters are mostly found walking around
  looking for load to carry.
• Structured interview was the main data collection
  instrument because the study intended to capture
  the sentiments of the porters.

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Main Findings

• Bio Data of Respondents
• Two essential bio data relevant to the study
  are age and educational level of female porters.
• Age of Respondents
• - Most of the female porters (93) interviewed
  were below 27 years of age, confirming findings
  of similar studies (Anarfi, 2007 Unicef, 2000
  CAS 2000). See table 1.1
• -Young female porters are physically and
  emotionally more vulnerable to problems at the
  destination region.

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Table 1.1 Age of Respondents
Age of respondents Frequencies Percentage of respondents Cumulative Percent
Below 16 22 24 24
16 27 62 69 93
28 60 6 7 100
Total 90 100 100
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• Educational levels of Respondents
• -Educational levels of female porters were
  generally low, with about 60 of the respondent
  without formal education.
• - The reasons for this low level of education
  among the porters include high male literacy as
  against female literacy in Northern Ghana and low
  income status of their parents or guardians
  (Berg, 2007 GHDS 2003)
• - Low levels of education makes it difficult
  for female migrants to secure good jobs and earn
  respectable income.

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Factors Affecting Porters Decision to Migrate

• The study revealed that 85 of the female porters
  migrated because of economic reasons similar to
  findings of preponderant literature on
  North-South migration in Ghana (Adu-Gyamfi, 2001
  Anarfi et al. 2003 Anarfi and Kwankye, 2005)
• Fifteen percent of the porters indicated social
  factors forced marriages (6), peer influence
  (4) and the desire to command respect from
  society on their return (5).
• Clearly, porters expect greener pastures on
  their arrival in the CBD. The question is do
  female porters conditions improve on arrival at
  the CBD?

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Migrants Welfare upon Arrival

• Migrants welfare is measured by comparing the
  following variables at the source and destination
• - Income
• - Room Occupancy Ratio
• - Type and Quality of shelter
• The comparisons are made using tables and charts

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Table 1.2 Income of Female Porters Before and
After Migration
Income per Month (GH) Source Region Source Region Destination Region Destination Region
Income per Month (GH) Count Percent Count Percent
None 80 89.0 - -
Below 20 3 3.3 53 58.9
20-50 4 4.4 15 16.7
51-100 3 3.3 8 8.9
Above 100 - - 14 15.5
Total 90 100 90 100
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Figure 1.1 Room Occupancy Ratio Before and After
Migration
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Female Porters Shelter Before and After
Migration

• Prior to migration, all 90 porters claimed they
  lived in family houses either built with cement
  or mud and roofed with sheets, asbestos or
  thatch.
• After migrating to the CBD, female porters live
  in all kinds of improvised shelter. These
  include uncompleted buildings, kiosk and stores,
  rented houses, and containers (fig. 1.2)

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Challenges Faced by Female Porters

• Three basic challenges confront female porters in
  the CBD. These are
• - Accommodation Challenges
• - Work-related Challenges
• - Health-related challenges
• These challenges are however interrelated such
  that poor working conditions as well as poor
  housing would lead poor health and vice versa.

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• Accommodation Challenges
• - About 74 of the female porters
  surveyed live in kiosk, stores, containers or
  uncompleted building while only 26 of the
  porters live in rented houses.
• - Such shelter lacks basic amenities such
  as water, washrooms, toilet facilities and
  electricity.
• - Little or no access to such basic
  amenities exposes the porters to various health
  risks.

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• Health-related Challenges
• - Number of occupants in poorly ventilated
  kiosk range from 10-25, exposing porters to
  communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, and
  hygiene-related such as cholera, malaria and
  even skin rashes.
• - Health access is poor, with about 44 of
  porters not accessing any health facility at
  all and 68 accessing irregular health service
  with their limited income.
• - None of the porters was a registered
  member of the NHIS.

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• Work-related Challenge
• - About 14 of the porters claim that they
  have been emotionally abused by customers while
  9 claim that they have experienced
  harassment, especially from male customers.
• - The carrying of heavy load on the
  head is health-threatening, especially
  considering the fact that women are described
  as weaker vessels.
• - The porters are not under any labor
  organization hence nobody to defend or speak on
  their behalf concerning how much they should be
  paid.

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Conclusion

• Young females migrating from the North to the CBD
  are economically better off than before (in terms
  of income).
• However, such relative improvement in income does
  not translate into improving the welfare of such
  young female migrants.
• Consequently, porters are worse-off and more
  vulnerable upon arrival at the CBD. This is
  manifested in the accommodation, work and health
  related challenges.

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Recommendations

• In the short run, an introduction of livelihood
  programs for female migrants at the destination
  regions will improve their living conditions.
• Developmental projects and promoting female
  education in the northern parts of Ghana will in
  the long run abate the increasing North-South
  movement of female porters.
• Porters participation in the programs to be
  organized for them and adequate financial support
  be provided.

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• End of presentation
• Thank you