ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Within Neighborhood Patterns and Sources of particle Pollution: Mobile Monitoring and GIS Analysis in Four Accra Communities

Sources of air pollution in developing country cities include transportation and industrial pollution, biomass and coal fuel use, and resuspended dust from unpaved roads. Our goal was to understand within-neighborhood spatial variability of particulate mat¬ter (PM) in communities of varying socioeconomic status (SES) in Accra, Ghana, and to quantify the effects of nearby sources on local PM concentration.We conducted 1 week of morning and afternoon mobile and stationary air pollution measurements in four study neighborhoods. PM with aerodynamic diameters ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and ≤ 10 μm (PM10) was measured continuously, with matched global positioning system coordinates; detailed data on local sources were collected at periodic stops. The effects of nearby sources on local PM were estimated using linear mixed-effects models. In our measurement campaign, the geometric means of PM2.5 and PM10 along the mobile monitoring path were 21 and 49 μg/m3, respectively, in the neighborhood with highest SES and 39 and 96 μg/m3, respectively, in the neighborhood with lowest SES and highest population den¬sity. PM2.5 and PM10 were as high as 200 and 400 μg/m3, respectively, in some segments of the path. After adjusting for other factors, the factors that had the largest effects on local PM pollution were nearby wood and charcoal stoves, congested and heavy traffic, loose dirt road surface, and trash burning. Biomass fuels, transportation, and unpaved roads may be important determinants of local PM variation in Accra neighborhoods. If confirmed by additional or supporting data, the results demonstrate the need for effective and equitable interventions and policies that reduce the impacts of traffic and biomass pollution.

Source: UG
Within savanna and forest: A review of the Late Stone Age Kintampo Tradition, Ghana

The Kintampo Tradition (c. 3600-3200 BP) of Ghana is associated with the earliest manifestations of figurative art, personal adornment, semi-sedentary 'village' settlements and food production in the Late Stone Age (LSA) of the savanna-forest/forests of West Africa. Despite decades of research, fundamental questions regarding this tradition remain unresolved and discussion of it remains heavily structured by notions of diffusion or migration. This study synthesises the available data with a comprehensive comparative analysis of Kintampo material culture in order to explore and evaluate this tradition's temporal and spatial patterning, as well as theoretical issues regarding identity and the socioeconomic and technical practices associated with the appearance of food production. Available data evince the existence of a unique adaptation that confounds attempts to interpret it within traditional socio-economic categories such as 'Neolithic'. The Kintampo is recast here as a distinctive and durable archaeological tradition that constitutes the beginnings of food production in Sub-Sahelian West Africa. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Source: UG
'Wo benanε a εyε bebree': The economic impact of remittances of Netherlands-based Ghanaian migrants on rural Ashanti

This paper explores the ways remittances from Netherlands-based Ghanaian migrants influence economic and social life in rural areas in the Ashanti region in Ghana, both at family and village levels. The analysis focuses on eight domains of economic life, selected for their importance within Ashanti culture. They are: investments in housing, business, farm, education, and community development projects, health care, and participation in church and funerals. The findings are based on 60 interviews with village leaders and families of migrants in 25 Ashanti villages collected between December 2002 and January 2003. The paper argues that most Netherlands-based migrants invest in housing and business back home, but also support their families with contributions towards education, healthcare and daily upkeep. Apart from direct support to families, groups of migrants have contributed towards various development projects. The indirect impact of migration on community development is also manifested in individual migrant-financed activities that provide needed services to the communities. However, this impact varies between families and between communities, due to a number of external factors that influence the volume and frequency of remittances to families and the ability of home communities to benefit from migrant-financed support. The paper argues that remittances can contribute greatly to the well-being and development of a family, but at the same time these can be highly insecure sources of income because the family may fall back into poverty the moment the flow of money from abroad stops. © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Source: UG
The Womb as Target: Linking Procreative Sex with Premature Death and Epidemics in Modern Day Ghana

This essay will reveal that the source of public health policy over the last two decades in Ghana and South Africa—widely divergent cultures and political economies in other respects—has been shaped by political history and current global economic forces. The dualistic juxtaposition of African tradition with Western modernity functions nowadays in the international domain to build a dual impression of the need for foreign direction and expertise in the building of health care delivery, and yields a perpetuation of Victorian racist stereotyping as the basis for forwarding a non-scientific agenda, and promoting the multinational pharmaceutical industry’s profits, at the expense of coherence and effectiveness in domestic health care policies of African nations, with specific focus on modern Ghana .

Source: UG
Women ’ s Experiences of Sexual Pleasure in Ghana

Abstract Although sexual intercourse is an important aspect of women’s sexuality, there is little knowledge on how women experience sexual pleasure in Ghana. In this paper we explore how women and men express sexual pleasure and highlight women’s experience of sexual pleasure based on the narratives of 20 women and 16 men. Specifically, we focus on describing how women and men understand sexual pleasure, the factors that stimulate sexual pleasure, and show how women experience it. The interviewee’s expressions of sexual pleasure were symbolic and had both direct and indirect manifestation. Ejaculation was reported to indicate a direct manifestation of sexual pleasure. Screams, facial and other expressions were reported to indicate indirect experiences of sexual pleasure, and were seen to be associated with female sexuality more than male sexuality. Women and men expressed sexual pleasure in a variety of ways (e.g., ejaculation, screaming, “good pain”, treating a partner nicely after sex, asking rhetoric questions during sex, and prolonged sex intercourse) and there were no differences in the meanings both women and men ascribed to sexual pleasure, regardless of their demographic profiles. Women reported experiencing sexual pleasure as their male partners did based on meanings they attach to erotic sensuality as expressed in romance, foreplay, and physical attractiveness. If sex is sexually stimulating (e.g., due to a partner’s agreeable personal hygiene), women would engage in it. Well-intentioned sexuality programmes emphasizing partners’ touching each other for pleasure, as well as educating partners to maintain erotic sensuality is compelling for inducing sexual pleasure.

Source: UG
Women and men at the traffic lights: Changing face of street water vending in a developing country city, Accra

Poverty and unemployment are critical challenges that confront Ghana's economy, and thus contribute to the burgeoning informal economy. Although more men are employed informally, women tend to dominate certain activities like water vending. Focusing on the experiences of female and male sachet water vendors along the traffic lights of the arterial road connecting Adenta to the central business district (CBD) of Accra, this article argues that exploring the activities of water vendors provide a lens into the gendered division of labour and informal (self) employment in Ghana. The findings indicate that water vending dominated by females is flourishing, and has attracted some male entrants and several other trade along the traffic lights. Averagely, men sell 20 bags daily less than what women sell (30 bags), equal to 900 pieces of sachet water, indicating their contribution to the booming sachet water business in Accra. The findings also show that, while men earn about Gh¢ 25 daily, many women are the sole providers with an average daily earnings of Gh¢ 35, which is almost 6 times higher than the daily minimum wage (DMW). The study concludes that, male vendors are, thus, provided with opportunities to refashion gender relations and values in a way that may both impede but may also promote a more egalitarian gender order. This nuanced analysis of Accra's street vendors increases our understanding of how men and women respond differently to occupational crossovers and their activities may contribute to informed renegotiations and reconceptualisation of informality, poverty, and gender.

Source: UG
Women and Postconflict Security: A Study of Police Response to Domestic Violence in Liberia

Domestic violence or Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the form of violence against women (VAW) that is most reported to the police in Liberia. This violence cuts across class, ethnic, religious, and age lines (Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services, et al. 2008) and results in psychological trauma, physical injuries, and, in some cases, death. Societal beliefs that frame domestic violence as a regular part of life serve to legitimize and foster the problem in Liberia (Allen and Devitt 2012; LISGIS et al. 2008) and pose a challenge to the state and to international organizations (IOs) and women's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have introduced measures to combat domestic violence since the end of the country's 14-year civil war in 2003. One such effort is the Women and Children Protection Section (WACPS) of the Liberian National Police (LNP), established by the government in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other international partners in 2005. Although the section was established primarily to address rape, its officers are mandated to investigate all forms of VAW, including domestic violence.

Source: UG
Women Becoming Bosses: Changing Gender Roles and Decision Making in Dangme West District of Ghana

Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the Dangme West District of Ghana, this study shows how the changing socio-economic status of women, as a result of governmental and non-governmental interventions, has influenced women to economically contribute more in their homes, become less vulnerable and subsequently improve their decision-making roles. The study also revealed that other factors such as unemployment and out-migration of men are creating more space for women to assume ‘headship’ positions and act as major decision-makers in the home. This ‘new’ gender role and position of women is, however, creating gender antagonism at the household level. The study recommends that NGOs and government agencies must strategically tackle the complexities of decision-making and bargaining power in interpersonal relationships. Moreover, sensitive issues concerning sexual behavior must be addressed as the first step towards any intervention

Source: UG
Women farmers access to credit from Rural Banks in Ghana

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine women farmers' access to credit from rural banks (RBs) in the Upper East region of Ghana. The paper examines the nature of credit supply by the RBs to their customers and the proportion that goes to women over a ten year period. It proposes the modelling of socio-economic, technical and institutional factors influencing women farmers' access to credit from financial institutions in general and rural banks (RBs) in particular. The paper aims to expand the frontiers of rural and agricultural financing as well as the integration of gender interest in the financial sectors of developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 200 women farmers were randomly selected and information on socio-economic, technical and institutional issues solicited from them. Ratio analyses were carried out and the logistic regression used to model the socio-economic, technical and institutional factors that have influence on access to credit from RBs by women farmers. Findings – The paper provides empirical evidence of close gender parity in terms of credit supply by RBs in Ghana. About 44 per cent of the credit portfolios of RBs in Ghana go to women and the remaining 56 per cent goes to men. Education, application procedures, access to land, income level, farm size, membership to economic associations, savings, type of crop grown, interest rate and distance to RBs are the socio-economic, technical and institutional factors that influence women farmers' access to credit. Research limitations/implications – The paper is limited to only women farmers. There is the need for further research that considers men and women so as to establish whether or not there is gender insensitivity by financial institutions in Ghana and other developing countries. Practical implications – This paper provides empirical implications for the development of a vibrant financial sector in developing countries that provide equal access to men and women, rural and urban dwellers as well as actors in the formal and informal sectors. Originality/value – This paper brings to light the issues of access to productive resources such as production credit by women in developing countries, particularly Ghana.

Source: UG
Women in physics in Ghana: Improvement on the horizon

In Ghana, the number of women involved in physics has been rather small compared with that of men. We report a gratifying increase in the number of women studying physics in Ghana during the past 5 years. This is the positive result of various intervention strategies that have been put in place in Ghana during the past 15 years. It is estimated that the developing countries of Africa need at least 2000 scientists per 1 million in population for effective industrial development. If this critical mass of scientific personnel is to be assembled, with the relevant supporting technical personnel, no country can afford to leave 50% of the population—the half that consists of women—out of scientific, technological, and mathematics education. It is imperative that many more women study physics if the country is to move forward and have the critical mass of scientists needed for economic growth. One of the basic problems that have put women on the sidelines in the pursuit of scientific studies and careers is gender stereotyping. Gender stereotyping of school courses and careers finds expression in the expectation that certain courses like physics, mathematics, engineering, and other technical work are “boys courses” or “men’s jobs” and girls will study languages, typing, cooking, and sewing, which will lead to jobs in catering and junior-level office work. These societal expectations are projected in the school into what has been described as “the hidden curriculum.” On paper, all subjects are open to all students, but in practice there is often gender bias toward certain subjects. The result has been a categorization of careers into “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs.” In fact, some well-meaning people have, in the past, advised that the study of science and mathematics could harm the delicate feminine frame

Source: UG
Women in Politics in Ghana: A Study on Local Government in the Greater Accra Region

Women’s participation in politics in Ghana is low, both at local and the national level. This reflects the global trend of women’s participation in politics. This paper examines ways of deepening women’s participation as assembly members in local government. It examines women’s participation in politics with the aim of suggesting ways of enhancing women’s political participation. Primary Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Three major problems were identified as the main barriers to women’s participation in Ghanaian politics. Women in Ghana earned low incomes coupled with low educational status. Also, lack of confidence was found to be a barrier because the women explained that politics is for men. The recommendation is that both men and women should be sensitized to erase the deep-seated misconception that politics is for men. Also, women should be empowered economically and educationally so as to be able to compete favourably with their male counterparts in politics.KEY DESCRIPTORS: Decentralization, Assemblywomen, Women’s Empowerment, Local Government, Political Participation.

Source: UG
Women in Radiography Practice in Ghana: Motivating and Demotivating Factors

PURPOSE: To investigate and establish reasons for the smaller but increasing population of female radiographers in Ghana, and to evaluate the motivating and demotivating contributory factors associated with women's choice of the profession. METHODS: A descriptive quantitative survey design and a purposive sampling technique were used to recruit participants from hospitals, clinics, and private imaging centers in Ghana. Forty registered female radiographers were invited to participate in the survey, and 30 participants completed and returned the questionnaires. RESULTS: Fear of the possible effects of radiation exposure (57%) and other associated risks were identified by female radiographers as the primary reasons for the low number of women practicing radiography. Lack of training centers and lecturers (27%) and lack of books (23%) were other major demotivating factors. Job security (23%) and a desire to work in a hospital (30%) motivated their continued practice. DISCUSSION: Most of the motivating and demotivating factors found in this study were in agreement with the literature; however, approximately 27% of the respondents observed that lack of training centers and lecturers were the main challenges encountered during their professional studies, which is inconsistent with 1 study that found that the primary detractors for radiography students included poor remuneration, radiation hazards, poor societal recognition, lifestyle of radiographers, curriculum content, lack of a professional title, and male dominance. CONCLUSION: The number of women practicing radiography in Ghana is increasing. The male-to-female ratio is estimated to be 3 to 1. Although fear of the biologic effects of working with radiation was demotivating, job availability and a desire to work in health facilities were motivating. The need for effective career guidance and continued education at the high school level was identified as necessary to abate fears about the risks of working with radiation and to increase the number of women practicing radiography in Ghana.

Source: UG
Women in the shea industry: The case of Kusawgu in the Northern Region of Ghana

This research sought to highlight the experiences of women in the shea industry in Kusawgu in Ghana. Recommendations to enhance and sustain the industry were also explored. A total of 60 women from four shea production groups, who lived in Kusawgu, participated in focus group discussions. The data was first analysed separately by the two researchers. Results were then compared to reconcile differences. The study demonstrates that the shea industry undoubtedly provided means of livelihood, self-dignity and respect for the women. Positive outcomes for working in groups include quick processing; sense of belonging and social capital; security and peace of mind; and skills development. However, lack of access to microfinance, travelling for longer distances, the period of time required to get water and fuel-wood, gender-based land ownership discrimination, and extinction of shea trees hamper production and income. Regardless of these challenges the women demonstrated resiliency by their continuous work in the industry. Due to the potential of the shea industry to reduce poverty among women, government should work hand-in-hand with the traditional authority to develop measures to sustain the industry. Social work practitioners could build the capability of the women in the shea industry to access existing pro-poor programmes

Source: UG
Women in Ties: Informal Social Networks Among Women in Cross-Border Trading in Accra, Ghana

This paper discusses how women in cross-border trading in Ghana have established informal social networks, which are either kinship-based or non-kinship-based, to address not only their economic needs but also the social, political and psychosocial challenges that they face as they travel across national frontiers. It highlights how women depend on bonds of empathy, obligation or sometimes a conscious need to present a united front to address their several challenges as cross-border traders. In-depth interviews were used to interview 60 women involved in cross-border trading within the Economic Commission of West African States region. These women were purposively sampled using snowballing method. The narratives of women do not only show their resilience or determination to survive, and sustain their businesses but also how they address their personal and private matters through these informal networks. The level of reciprocity and trust among these women is a major factor that accounts for and maintains these active networks. The paper recommends that policies designed to support these women should take into account the role of women’s informal networks as these are assets that could be built on to address the challenges of women in cross-border trading.

Source: UG
Women leading change: re-shaping gender in Ghanaian mines

equality and diversity in the industry. Available literature lacks sufficient empirical evidence on the subject matter in Ghana. Therefore, this paper aims to understudy women miners in Ghana and document their role in recent change regimes in mine works gender profiles. An observed change that is stimulating a shift in background dispositions leads to increasing number of women taking up mine jobs. Design/methodology/approach – In working towards achieving the aim of the study, both qualitative design and a multiple case study approaches are deployed. Four multinational Ghanaian mines and a mining and technology university were used to understudy the women miners and their role towards a change in mine work gender perspectives. Findings – The results showed a regime of “ore-solidarity movement” (women in mining – Ghana). A kind of solidarity identified conventionally as a social movement in active resource and self-mobilization, engaged in a symbolic contestation for change of the status quo (dominant masculinity cultures) in furtherance of gender equity and inclusion in milieu of mine works reforms in Ghana. Originality/value – The study is of high scientific, political and public interest to better understand women’s movements in the mining industries in Ghana and to frame them theoretically. It offers solid empirical evidence on roles women miners play to ensure gender shape-shifting and liberalizing the mining space for women’s participation. This move towards inclusive mining implies poverty eradication among women, work towards achieving sustainable mining, competitiveness and assurance for gender-driven social innovative mining.

Source: UG