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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Gender, migration and remittances in Ghana: an overview
Authors:Amoako, Esther Ekua
Apusigah, Agnes AtiaISNI
Year:2013
Periodical:Ghana Journal of Development Studies (ISSN 0855-6768)
Volume:10
Issue:1-2
Pages:15-43
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:remittances
women migrants
gender
migration
Abstract:Remittances have become an important source for socio-economic equalizing and leveraging for many households and nations of the developing world. The World Bank has estimated that remittances totaled $420 billion in 2009, of which $317 billion went to developing countries. The remittances received become important sources of family (and national) income of many developing economies, representing in some cases a very significant percentage of the GDP of the receiving countries. Although there is a growing interest in the potential contribution of remittances to poverty reduction and community development, reflected in the formulation of policies and programmes to maximize their potential, as well as anecdotal evidence on the increasing involvement of women, analysis of the gender dynamics of remittances remains poor. Amid growing evidence of independent female migration, studies in this emerging area of scholarship rarely disaggregate the data and analysis by sex in order to show how men and women participate and/or are affected differently. This article focuses on these gender dimensions of migration and remittances. The analyses show that although men still lead in the migration business, women are becoming a significant part of the crowd and that independent women's migration is on the rise while the women and men who emigrate do so for similar reasons. The analyses also show that the women who participate in the enterprise are vulnerable to various forms of discrimination such as human trafficking, sex harassment and unfair treatment. Hence, there is the need for policies and programmes that tackle women's vulnerability during migration. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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