'We women worry a lot about our husbands': Ghanaian women talking about their health and their relationships with men

Discussions of the health of women in the developing world have typically b een shaped by the concerns of policy makers, health care professionals and other experts. They have focused on reproductive health and, above all, wom en have been defined in terms of their childbearing role. Yet when women th emselves are given a voice, a different set of issues emerges. The research reported here aimed to explore women's own concerns about their health and how they understand their health problems. The study was conducted in the Volta region of Ghana and it included interviews with 75 women of varying b ackground. Almost three-quarters of the women reported 'thinking too much' and many also said that they had problems sleeping, suffered frequent heada ches and often felt unhappy or sad. They explain these psycho-social health problems in terms of their social and material circumstances and one of th e main themes women emphasised was their relationship with me. Relying on w omen's accounts, we trace the ways in which they conceptualised their healt h, seeing it as shaped by their lack of control over the conditions of thei r lives; gender relation define their responsibilities while at the same ti me withholding the control and resources they require in order to achieve a measure of economic independence and predictability.