Migration, Remittances and Intra-Household Allocation in Northern Ghana: Does Gender Matter?
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MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND INTRA-HOUSEHOLD ALLOCATION IN NORTHERN GHANA: DOES GENDER MATTER? A Dissertation Presented by LYNDA JOYCE PICKBOURN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2011 Department of Economics © Copyright by Lynda Joyce Pickbourn 2011 All Rights Reserved MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND INTRA-HOUSEHOLD ALLOCATION IN NORTHERN GHANA: DOES GENDER MATTER? A Dissertation Presented by LYNDA JOYCE PICKBOURN Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ James K. Boyce, Chair _______________________________________ Nancy Folbre, Member _______________________________________ James Heintz, Member ____________________________________ Michael Ash, Department Head Department of Economics DEDICATION To my mother, Gladys Kotey . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a pleasure to thank the many people who have contributed in different ways to the completion of this project. First, I owe my deepest gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee – James Boyce, Nancy Folbre and James Heintz – for their patience, support and encouragement. In the initial stages of my research, Jim Boyce allowed me the space to develop and explore my ideas, and throughout the process he has challenged me to think about migration and economic development in different ways and has consistently encouraged me to take things further than I might otherwise have done. I took a class with Nancy Folbre right after finishing up my field research in Ghana, at a time when it seemed like there was so much to be said that I would never be able to say it all. She inspired me to clarify my thinking about social norms and gave me the confidence to believe in what I had to say, and her feedback has been invaluable in helping to sharpen my writing. James Heintz has been a tremendous source of advice and help with the quantitative aspects of my work, responding to all my questions simply and clearly and with endless patience, and helping to demystify the econometric analysis of household expenditure. Together, they have provided the intellectual direction and guidance that helped this dissertation to evolve, and have contributed in myriad ways to my development as a scholar. I count myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the faculty of the Economics and Women’s and Gender Studies Departments at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, from whom I learnt so much, and to the administrative staff of both departments and of the Political and Economic Research Institute (PERI) who keep the wheels running smoothly for graduate students. I am particularly grateful to Professors Alexandrina Deschamps, Mwangi wa Githinji, Melissa Gonzalez-Brennes and Léonce Ndikumana, not only for their useful v feedback on my work, but also for coming through for me at different points in my graduate school career. I would especially like to thank Gerald Epstein for his unfailing professional and personal support when it was most needed. This work would not have been possible without the people and organizations that participated in my research and contributed to it in myriad ways. My thanks go to the American Association of University Women, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the Political Economy Research Institute for providing funding at different stages of my research. I am deeply grateful to the survey respondents, interviewees and focus group participants for their willingness to share their stories with me, even though they stood to gain nothing from doing so. I was humbled by their infinite patience throughout the process. I would also like to thank my field assistants, interpreters and data entry personnel – Mr. Daniel Danso, Mrs. Ramatu Awudu, Mr. Bawa Kassim, Mr. Alhassan Baba and Mrs. Margaret Yeboah for their excellent work. My thanks also go to Dr. Sulley Gariba and the staff of the Institute for Policy Alternatives in Tamale for their assistance in setting up a workshop with representatives of various NGOs working with female migrants from northern Ghana, and to Mr. Yakubu Sheriff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Northern Region) for providing data on the region’s agricultural performance. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Seidu Alhassan of the University of Development Studies, Tamale, for his help in sorting out the logistics of field research in northern Ghana, and for his friendship and hospitality. I have been lucky to enjoy the companionship and support of the many friends I have made here at UMASS. Although I cannot mention everyone, I would especially like to thank Sung-Ha Hwang, Seung-Yun Oh and Smita Ramnarain for reading different chapters and providing valuable feedback. vi This journey would have been far more difficult without the support of my family and of those that I consider family. I thank my brother, Leslie Brunner, my aunt, Phyllis Kotey, my cousin Walter Darko and his wife Debbie, my mother-in-law, Mrs. Mariam Smith and my sister-in-law, Kathryn Smith for their unfailing love and support. Special thanks go to my late uncle Dr. Paul Kotey, for encouraging my graduate school aspirations, and to Mr. John Coleman for keeping my feet firmly planted on a path of spirituality and meditation throughout the process. Finally, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Mrs. Jane Alhassan and her husband Mr. R.I. Alhassan for opening their home to my husband and I while we were in Tamale. And finally, I must thank my husband, Preston H. Smith II, for being there for me every step of the way and for reading through multiple early drafts of this work without ever complaining. He has been, and continues to be, a source of inspiration and encouragement. To all the above individuals and to several others whose names I cannot continue listing but who have assisted me one way or another, I feel very much indebted. Without doubt there will be errors, omissions and over-simplifications in this work, for which I take full responsibility, while hoping that the rest of the material will be enough to stimulate new insights and directions for research in the study of gender, migration and economic development. vii ABSTRACT MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND INTRA-HOUSEHOLD ALLOCATION IN NORTHERN GHANA: DOES GENDER MATTER? SEPTEMBER 2011 LYNDA JOYCE PICKBOURN, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF GHANA M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST Directed by: Professor James K. Boyce My dissertation research is motivated by the growing participation of African women in migration streams long dominated by men. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative evidence from my field research on the rural-urban migration of women in Ghana, I explore the role of social norms in shaping migration and remittance behavior in developing countries. Existing studies of the impact of migrant remittances on intra-household allocation are based on datasets that assume that remittances flow to a unified household, in which the household head receives remittances and makes decisions about their use. In contrast, this study makes use of a unique dataset generated during my field research that provides detailed information not only on migration, remittances and household expenditures, but also on the identities of the remitters and recipients of remittances in 181 rural households in northern Ghana. The study also draws on in-depth interviews with migrants, household and community members to understand how social norms influence migration and remittance behavior. viii I find that gendered social norms play an important role in migration and remittance decisions, so that gender becomes an important determinant of who migrates and who sends remittances, to whom, and why. In particular, I find that female migrants often direct their remittances to other women, thereby creating female-centered networks of remittance flows within the household. To determine the effect of this on intra-household resource allocation, I analyze the impact of remittances from female migrants on education expenditure. I find that migrant households in which women are the primary remitter or recipient of remittances spend significantly more on education per child of school-going age than do other migrant households. By taking an intra-household approach to the analysis of migration and remittances that emphasizes the role of gendered social norms in migration and remittance decisions, this research contributes to the growing body of knowledge of how gender shapes migration outcomes. More importantly, by drawing attention to the positive development outcomes that could result from the migration of women, this research strengthens the case for formulating policies to improve the working and living conditions of women migrants around the world. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1. THE RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION OF WOMEN IN GHANA .........................1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................1