Negotiating Caring Practices Among Internal Migrant Women In
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NEGOTIATING CARING PRACTICES AMONG INTERNAL MIGRANT WOMEN IN ACCRA-GHANA BY NANA HAWAWU ALHASSAN A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in International Development Studies. (December, 2015), Halifax, Nova Scotia Copyright (Nana Hawawu Alhassan, 2015) Approved: Dr. Evangelia Tastsoglou (Supervisor) Approved: Dr. Alexandra Dobrowolsky (Examiner) Approved: Dr. Madine VanderPlaat (Reader) Date: 22nd December, 2015 1 Negotiating Caring Practices among Internal Migrant Women in Accra-Ghana By Nana Hawawu Alhassan Date: 22nd December, 2015 Abstract This thesis focuses on the negotiation of care provision, changes in caring practices post-migration and the impact of women`s internal, North-South migration on gender and family relations and communities of origin in Ghana. Ten in-depth interviews with migrant women revealed that women have become frontrunners in the migration process, engaging in different modalities of care where they negotiate with spouses and other family members for the care of their left behind families. The story of negotiating caring practices shows that women’s migration changes gender and family roles to an extent, while, at the same time it reproduces them. There are financial, material and emotional consequences of migration on migrant women and their families as well as their communities of origin. Directions for future research should include the impacts of care-giving on left behind families from their own experiences, and the reconstruction of masculinities from men`s perspectives. 2 DEDICATION To my late father, Issah Alhassan and my mother, Alimatu Alhassan 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Evangelia Tastsoglou for her tremendous assistance, selfless efforts and guidance from the beginning until the end of writing of my thesis. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to my reader Dr. Madine VanderPlaat for taking time off her busy schedule to go through my work and giving me useful comments that helped to improve my work. I am grateful to my external examiner, Dr. Alexandra Dobrowolsky for her contribution to this work. I thank the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research of Saint Mary`s University for the generous financial support I received which made my graduate studies possible. My deepest thanks to my mother, Mrs. Alimatu Alhassan for her love, prayers and support throughout my academic journey. Special thanks go to Dr. Frederick Ato Armah for his encouragement and support in diverse ways right from the start of my graduate studies. I would like to thank family members and friends who contributed to the success of my work especially George Hoffman, Atika Ali, Mustapha Mahama Abdulai, Joyce Asamoah, Tina Boateng and Grace Asiedu for their inspiration and encouragement in this endeavour. Finally, I would like to thank all the ten migrant women in Accra who participated in this project for sharing their unique experiences with me. 4 TABLES OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.2 Rationale of the Study .............................................................................................................. 13 1.3 Goals, Objectives and Research Questions .............................................................................. 17 1.4 Data Collection and Analysis ................................................................................................... 18 1.5 Organization of Chapters ......................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................................................................... 21 2.1 Theoretical Approaches to Migration and the Critique of Leaving Gender Out...................... 22 2.2 History of Gender and Migration Literature ............................................................................ 25 2.3 Contemporary Gender Inequality and Migration Approaches ................................................. 26 2.4 Key Issues in Gender and Migration ........................................................................................ 27 2.4.1 Feminization of Migration ................................................................................................ 28 2.4.2 Feminization of Survival ................................................................................................... 29 2.4.3 Feminization of Labour Migration .................................................................................... 30 2.4.4 Women`s Empowerment ................................................................................................... 31 2.4.5 Gender, Migration and Development ................................................................................ 33 2.4.6 Women, Care and Migration ............................................................................................. 34 2.4.7 Key Insights on Gender and Migration in Africa .............................................................. 36 2.4.8 Key Insights on African feminism and its application to the Ghanaian Context .............. 37 CHAPTER 3: GHANA: A COUNTRY PROFILE WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNAL MIGRATION ........................................................... 41 3.1 Brief History of Migration in sub-Saharan West Africa .......................................................... 41 3.2 The Political Economy of Ghana ............................................................................................. 42 3.3 Brief Socio-demographic Profile of Ghana.............................................................................. 46 3.4 North-South and Rural-Urban Migration ................................................................................. 49 3.5 Gender Relations in Ghana ...................................................................................................... 52 3.6 The Role of the Family and Patriarchy in Ghana ..................................................................... 55 3.7 Gender and Internal Migration in Ghana ................................................................................. 57 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 60 5 4.1 Levels of Investigation ............................................................................................................. 60 4.2 Selecting the Research Community ......................................................................................... 61 4.3 Preparations for Research ........................................................................................................ 62 4.4 Approaches .............................................................................................................................. 63 4.5 Process of Selecting Research Participants .............................................................................. 63 4.6 Research Sample ...................................................................................................................... 64 4.7 Techniques ............................................................................................................................... 65 4.7.1 In-depth Interviews ........................................................................................................... 66 4.7.2 Field Notes ........................................................................................................................ 68 4.8 Data Processing and Analysis .................................................................................................. 69 4.9 Field Work Evaluation ............................................................................................................. 71 4.9.1 Challenges in the Field ...................................................................................................... 71 4.9.2 Strengths and Limitations of Field Work .......................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 5: PRE-MIGRATION ................................................................................................ 75 5.1 Decision to Migrate .................................................................................................................. 75 5.1.1 Economic Reasons ............................................................................................................ 76 5.1.2 Educational reasons........................................................................................................... 79 5.1.3 Socio-cultural reasons ....................................................................................................... 80 5.1.4 Secondary and Second Migration ..................................................................................... 82 5.2 Migrant Women`s Feelings about their Migration Decisions .................................................. 84 5.3 Main Care-Provider in Migrants` Absence .............................................................................. 85 5.4 Why and How Migrants make Decisions about Caring Arrangements before Migrating ....... 90 5.5 Expectations of Caretakers