Women and Girls on the Move: Determinants of Female Internal Migration in Northern Ghana- Insights from East Mamprusi District, Ghana
Abstract
Internal female migration is shaping Ghana's development discourse as an increasing number of women and young girls engage in rural-urban migration either independently or by family decision due to widespread poverty, limited arable landand high female unemployment. Limited literature exists on the determining factors of female internal rural-urban migration. This paper fills the gap by examining determinants of female internal rural-urban migration in the East Mmprusi District of the North East Region. Primary data were collected from individuals, heads of households heads women's groups, and key informants and focus group discussions, among others, through a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions.
The study found the existence of pull and push factors as being responsible for female internal migration, including the collective family household decision to send the female to the cities and towns as one of the many livelihood diversification strategies for the rural poor households. Other factors responsible for the female outmigration included lack land rights for women, as customary land tenure and rights tended to favor male over the female counterpart, low farm output leading to exreme povertyamon g rural women, the desire of young spinsters to prepare themselves financially and materially towards marriage by purchaing clothes/items, cooking utensils, low level of skills and education among rural among rural women. The study recommends a change in gender norms and cultural practices that inhibit women from accessing land resources in order to ward off gender discrimination and the incorporation of affirmative action policies which give women freedom of choice without hindrances.
Keywords: Internal Migration, Female, Determinants, Ferminization, District, Ghana
References
Chant, S. & Radcliffe, S. (1992). Migration and Development: The Importance of Gender.” In Gender and Migration in Developing Countries. Sylvia Chant (ed). London and New York: Belhaven Press.
Dao, M. (2000). Determinants of Internal Migration in Developing Countries. Eastern Illinois University.
Service, S. (1998). Republic of Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Living Standards Survey with Labor Force Module D.
Bahns, M. K. (2005). Rural to Urban Migration in Developing Countries: The Applicability of the Harris-Todaro Model with a Special Focus on the Chinese Economy. Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades des Doktors der Wirtschaftswissenschaften a der Universit at Konstanz.
Curran, S.R., Shafer, S., Donato, K.M., and Garip, F. (2006). Mapping gender and migration in sociological scholarship: Is it segregation or integration? International Migration Review.
Yaa, A. Agyei, Emmanuel, Kumi, & Thomas, Yeboah. (2016). Is better to be a kayayei than to be unemployed: reflecting on the role of head portering in Ghana’s informal economy. University of Bath, Claverton Down, U.K.
Yeboah, M. A. (2008). Gender and Livelihoods: Mapping the Economic Strategies of Porters in Accra, Ghana. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Department of Geology and Geography, Morgantown, West Virginia. U.S.A.
Awumbila, M. (2014). Linkages between Urbanization. Rural-Urban Migration and Poverty Outcomesin Africa. International Organizationfor Migration.
Harris, J. & M. Todaro. (1970). Migration, Unemployment, and Development: A Two-Sector Analysis. American Economic Review, (1):126-142.
Jorgenson, D. W. (1967). Surplus agricultural labour and the development of a dual economy. Oxford Economic Papers, (3): 288–312.
Lewis, W. Arthur. (1954). Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour, Manchester School, (22): 139-191.
Stark, O. (1991). The Migration of Labor. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.
Ravenstein, E. G. (1885): The Laws of Migration. Journal of the Statistical Society of London, (2), 167-235.
United Nations-UN. (1970). Manuals on methods of estimating population, Manual VI: methods of measuring internal migration. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population studies, No.47, New York.
Chhikara, K. S., & Kodan, A. S. (2012). Migration of Rural Women in India: Trends, Streams and Motivation. Greener Journal of Social Sciences, :(2) 127–133.
IOM. (2003). The Migration-Development Nexus: Evidence and Policy Options, Geneva.
Sander, C. (2003): Migrant Remittances to Developing Countries: A Scoping Study, A Paper prepared for DFID, Bannock Consulting, June.
Dao, M. (2002). Determinants of Internal Migration in Developing Countries. Eastern Illinois University.
Anh, D.N. (2003). Migration and Poverty in Asia: With reference to Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.” Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Migration and Development, organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 27-29 August. from Kenya. Review of Development Economics. 2003(5) 60-75.
IOM. (2005). Internal Migration and Development: a global perspective. IOM Migration Research Series N. 19, 2005.
Rubenstein, James A., and Bacon, Robert S. (1990). The Culture Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1990.
Beaujeu-Garnier, J. (1978). Geography of Population, 2nd ed., London, Longman, 1978.
Brockerhoff, M. Fertility and Family Planning in African Cities. The Impact of Female Migration. Journal of Biosocial Sciences, 1995(27):347-358.
Census of India. (2001). Soft copy, India D-series, Migration Tables. Registrar General and Census commisioner, India, 2001.
Diesinker, P. & Grimm, S. (2005). Internal Migration and Development: A Global Perspective. IOM., United Nations Publication, 2005.
Zhao, Y. (2003). Rural-urban Migration in China-What do we know and what do we need to know?” China Center for Economic Research, Peking University, 2003.
Yang, L. (2004). Rural Labor Migration in China and its Impacts on Rural Households in Essays on the Determinants and Consequences of Internal Migration. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, 2004.
Hugo, G. (2001). Migration and Development: A Perspective from Asia, 2003.
Mini, S.E. (2001). The impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Rural Economy in Rural Village, 2001.
Braun van, J. (2004). Towards a renewed focus on rural development. Agriculture and Rural Development, 2004(2): 4-6.
United Nations. (2003). World Population Prospects 2002. New York: United Nations, 2003.
Tabutin, D. and Schoumaker, B. (2004). The demography of sub-Saharan Africa from the 1950s to the 2000s: A survey of changes and a statistical assessment. Population, 2004:(3-4): 457-556.
Adepoju, A. Anarfi, J. & S. Kwankye & O.M. Ababia & R. Tiemoko. (2003). Migration from and to Ghana: A background paper, Issued by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation & Poverty, 2003-(38).
Kwankye, S. O., Anarfi, J. K., Tagoe, C. A., & Castaldo, A. (2009). Coping strategies of independent child migrants from northern Ghana to southern cities. Migration DRC Working Paper T-23. University of Sussex, Brighton: Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty. Ghana. Journal of Science and Technology (Ghana), 2009(3):73–88.
Louis, Boakye-Yiadom, Andrew McKay. (2007). Mgration between Ghana’s Rural and Urban Areas: The Impact on Migrant’s Welfare. Department of Economics and International Development, University of Bath, UK, 2007.
United Nations Population Division United Nations Expert Group Meeting On Population Distribution, Urbanization, Internal Migration, and Development. Population Division, United Nations Secretariat. New York, USA, 2008.
Elizaga, J., and Mellon, R. (1971). Aspectsdemographics de la mano de Obra en America Latin, CELADE, Santiago, Chile, 1971.
Orlansky,. Dora. Dubrovsky, Silvia. (1978). The effects of rural-urban migration on women’s role and Status in Latin America. Report & Papers in the Social Sciences. UNESCO. Paris, France, 1978.
Jonas, A. (2013). International Migration of Couples. The Labor Market Consequences of Gender Differences. Norface Discussion Paper Series, 2013.
Caldwell, J.C. (1969). African Rural-Urban Migration: The Movement to Ghana’s Towns. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
Tutu, K.A. (1995). Determinants of Internal Migration”. In Twum-Baah, K. A., J.S, 1995
Litchfield, J., and H. Waddington. (2003). Migration and poverty in Ghana: Evidence from the Ghana Living Standards Survey. Sussex Migration Working Paper No. 10. Brighton, U.K.: Sussex Centre for Migration Research, 2003.
Montgomery, Mark R. et al. (2003). Cities Transformed. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2003.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2000). Migration Research Study in Ghana: 1995. Internal Migration. Vol. One. Accra, 2000.
Timothy, P. Johnson. (2005). Snowball Sampling. University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA, 2005.
Powell, W., M. Morgante, C. Andre, M. Hanafey, J. Vogel, S. Tingey and A. Rafalski. (1996). The comparison of RFLP, RAPD, AFLP, and SSR (microsatellite) markers for germplasm analysis. Mol, Breeding 1996(2):225–238.
Morgan, D. L.(1997).Focus groups as qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997.
QSR. (2012). NVivo qualitative data analysis software. Version 10. QSR International Pty Ltd, 2012.
Taylor, J.E. (1999). The New Economics of Labor Migration and the Role of Remittances, International Migration, 1999(1): 63-88.
Yaa, A. Agyei, Emmanuel, Kumi, & Thomas, Yeboah. (2016). Is better to be a kayayei than to be unemployed: reflecting on the role of head portering in Ghana’s informal economy. University of Bath, Claverton Down, U.K, 2016.
Barret, C., T. Reardon, and P. Webb. (2001). Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: Concepts, dynamics and policy implications. Food Policy 2001(4): 315–331.
Ellis, F. (2000). The determinants of rural livelihood diversification in developing countries. Journal of Agricultural Economics 2000 (2): 289–302.
Mitra, A (2014). Informal sector, networks and intra-city variations in activities: Findings from New Delhi slums. Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, 2014(2):154-169.
Runger, M. (2005). Governance, Land Rights and Access to Land in Ghana – A Development Perspective on Gender Equity, 2005.
Aryeetey, E. Bortei-Doku. (2002). Behind the Norms: Women‟s Access to Land in Ghana, In C. Toulmin et al.(eds.), The Dynamics of Resource Tenure in West Africa, IIED, 2002, London: James Currey, 2002-(86–97).
Omari, C.K. (1988). Rural Women, Informal Sector and Households in Tanzania. Helsinki, World Institute for Development Economic Research of United Nations University, 1988.
Tacoli, C. (2002). Changing rural-urban interactions in sub-Saharan Africa and their impact on livelihoods: a summary. Working paper series on rural-urban interactions and livelihood strategies (working paper 7), IIED, London, UK, 2002.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2009). Human development report 2009: Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. New York: UNDP. Retrieved June 20, 2014, 2009.
De Haan, L. J. (2012). The livelihood approach: A critical exploration. Erdkunde, 2012(4):345–357.
De Haan, H. (2008). Migration and development: A theoretical perspective. International Migration Institute, University of Oxford Working papers 9,2008.
Granovetter, Mark. (1985). Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 1985(91):481–510.
Lucas, R.E.B. (1997). Internal Migration in Developing Countries. In M.R. Rosenzweig and O. Stark (eds.), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, Vol. 1B, 1997.
Connell, J., Dasgupta, B., Laishley, R., & Lipton, M. (1976). Migration from rural areas: The evidence from village studies,1976 Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Banerjee, B. (1986). Rural to urban migration and the urban labor market (a case study of Delhi), Bombay: Himalaya Publishing Hous, 1986.
Peberdy, S., and Dinat, N. (2005). Migration and Domestic Work in South Africa: Worlds of Work, Health and Mobility in Johannesburg, Cape Town, 2005.
Dereje, D. (2002). Causes, Trends and Patterns of Migration to Bishoftu Town. Unpublished MA Thesis, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa University, 2002.
Kinfe, A. (2003). A study on Migration of rural poor from Tigray to Addis Ababa; causes, consequences and possible solutions, Mekelle, Tigray, 2003.
Copyright (c) 2025 Baba Alhassan, Aminu Danaa Issah, Abdulai Fauzia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
