Working women in an urban setting: Traders, vendors and food security in Accra

Data collected from a 1997 household survey carried out in Accra, Ghana are used to look at the crucial role that women play as income earners and sec uring access to food in urban areas. One-third of the households surveyed a re headed by women. For all households, women's labor force participation i s high with 75% of all households having at least one working woman. The hi gh number of female-headed households and the large percentage of working w omen in the sample provide a good backdrop for looking at how women earn an d spend income differently than men in an urban area. Livelihood strategies for both men and women are predominantly labor based and dependent on soci al networks. For all households in the sample, food is still the single mos t important item in the total budget. Yet, important and striking differenc es between men's and women's livelihoods and expenditure patterns exist. Co mpared to men, women are less likely to be employed as wage earners, and mo re likely to work as street food vendors or petty traders. Women earn lower incomes, but tend to allocate more of their budget to basic goods for them selves and their children, while men spend more on entertainment for themse lves only. Despite lower incomes and additional demands on their time as ho usewives and mothers, female-headed households, petty traders and street fo od vendors have the largest percentage of food-secure households. Women may be achieving household food security, but at what cost? This paper explore s differences in income, expenditure and consumption patterns in an effort to answer this question, and suggests ways that urban planners and policy m akers can address special concerns to working women in urban areas. (C) 199 9 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.