The Nexus of Female Capital and North–South Labor Migration in Ghana

Abstract

The phenomenon of female head-load portaging in the large commercial cities of Southern Ghana has become a social canker. This article explores the role access to capital plays in the labor relocation of women from northern to Southern Ghana to engage in street head-load portaging, with the goal of examining the potential of microfinance to reverse this trend. Using a phenomenological study design and semi-structured interviews of 15 migrant women porters in Accra, the results revealed that lack of access to capital is a major determinant in the labor migration decisions of female head porters. Also, the study revealed that migrant female porters have a strong desire to obtain capital from microfinance versus savings from head-load portaging. The implications for positive social change include informing development practitioners and policy makers of the importance of microfinance as a prospective remedial policy to address the phenomenon of north to south female labor migration that contributes to the head-load portage syndrome and the inherent degradation this occupation creates for women in Southern Ghana.