Reproductive Health and Wellness

If Times Change, should we Throw away the Hearthstone? Exploring (Dis) Continuities in Autonomy and Decision-Making in the lives of Ghanaian Women

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This paper attempts to investigate continuities and discontinuities between traditional and
modern representations of womanhood and female gender roles focusing primarily on
family and work settings. Using approaches informed by Sociology, Cultural Psychology,
and African Studies, the paper explores traditional views of womanhood encapsulated in
(and also transmitted intergenerationally) through proverbs. This customary perspective
is contrasted with the results of the Everyday Lives Survey from the Pathways
of Women’s Empowerment Ghana project. The survey investigated the nature of
everyday life– education, work, decision making, access to institutions, and autonomy in
relationships—in six hundred (600) adult women in both rural and urban communities in
three regions of Ghana. We argue that although the times are changing, there have only
been modest disruptions in the lives of Ghanaian women as far as issues of autonomy
and decision-making in are concerned.

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: ., 2014

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English

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