Women’s earnings and domestic work among couples in Ghana

Research in feminist economics suggests that economic position can change gender relations at the household level. Much of this research, however, has been conducted in the Global North where the social structure is quite distinct from those in the Global South. Do Ghanaian women’s earnings relieve their domestic work burdens or intensify them? Addressing this question is important to extend what we know about the empowering nature of work. So, this study aims to understand how women’s earnings influence the extent to which they engage in domestic work in Ghana using two waves of the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSEPS) and a random effects regression model. We find that, on the one hand, higher earnings allow women to negotiate and bargain with their partners on domestic work allocations but, on the other hand, whether they are successful depends on the nature of their women. These results have implications for understanding the significance of women’s monetary resources, separate from their male partners, and the design of appropriate development policies and interventions.