Ghanaian Women, Creating Economic Security: an Analysis of Gender
AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Katherine Elise Vickers for the degree of Master of Art in Applied Anthropology presented on April 4, 2001. Title: Ghanaian Women. Creating Economic Security: An Analysis of Gender. Development, and Power in the Volta Region of Ghana, West Africa. Redacted for privacy Abstract Approved: A.Young In June 1999,1 was a volunteer for a United States non-governmental organization, Crossroads Africa. I joined six other American women traveling to Ghana, West Africa to participate in a collaborative program designed by the Ghana Red Cross Society and Crossroads Africa. Specifically our group was assigned to work on a Women in Development (WID) project with three rural women's collectives, "Mothers Clubs," assisting them with income-generating projects in the Volta Region of Ghana. The projects varied among the villages. hi village one, Anfoeta Tsebi, the women extracted oil from palm fruit and kernels. They sold palm oil at regional markets and used the oil domestically to make stews and soap for washing. In village two, Heffi, Mothers Club members baked bread and processedgarifrom cassava yarns. In village three, Anyirawase, the women made batiks, tie-dye, beadwork, and woven mats from cornhusks. My research objective was to evaluate the role that gender, the WID design, and power played in each project. I also sought to use my observations and the voices of African women to assess the successes and failures of the collaborative program of the Ghana Red Cross and Crossroads Africa. I used participant observation to gather this information. The sample was inclusive of project participants.
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