Analysing how reproductive tasks by women interact with trade and trade related activities. In agriculture, reproductive tasks compete with food production and agricultural income earning activities. Women feel very responsible for family expenses to which they contribute almost all their income, which is not always the case of men. This results in women having less money available to invest in improving income earning activities such as food processing to compete with imported processed products. In industrial export production, women workers still face the full household burden as their husbands refuse to share it, resulting in a double work burden for women.
Women reportedly spend more of their income to the household than men.
This hampers the possibilities of female traders to find the cheapest or the most interesting products to import, which can make them less commercially competitive than male traders without reproductive responsibilities. In the households of miners, the practice of not pooling husband and wife's incomes continues. Once their husband is retired, women are responsible for his health care and the rest of the family, even if the health problems are related to mining. Indicating in far women are involved in trade decision-making and how WTO rules impact on decisions in favour of women. The Ghana case study was not able to research these aspects in detail, but in interviews women traders complained about the lack of their involvement in governmental decision-making on international trade.