• Jobs of the World
  • Mentoring Programme
  • Login for Grantees
  • Code of Conduct
  • About
    • History
    • Investigators
    • Team
  • Projects
    • GLM|LIC
      • Agricultural Labour Markets
      • Gender and Employment
      • Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries
      • Migration
      • Skill Training
    • G²LM|LIC
      • Fact & Policy
      • Fertility & Labour markets
      • Barriers to gender parity
      • The Future of Work
      • Policies & Welfare
    • COVID-19
  • Publications
    • Policy Briefs
    • Synthesis Papers
    • Working Papers
    • Published Articles
    • Book
    • Datasets
  • Events
  • For Policy Makers
Search
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
G²LM|LIC Policy Brief No. 34

The Socioeconomic and Reproductive Health Effects of Unequal Domestic Work on Women in Ghana

Gender and Employment
Differential Earnings, Household Division of Labour and Fertility Choices: An Application of the “Doing Gender” Hypothesis in Ghana

In Ghana, women, on average, spend more than three times the average time men spend on domestic work and child chare activities. Such a burden created from unequal housework may have implications on women’s socio-economic empowerment, particularly, on their labour market and reproductive health outcomes.
In a setting characterised by unequal distribution of domestic work and stalled fertility rates, it is important to examine the tensions between family life and paid work on women’s labour market outcomes as well as on their fertility decisions.
Using qualitative data the study explores the effect of unequal distribution of housework on women’s labour market outcomes and examines the role that earnings differentials among couples play in the fertility choices of such couples who are married or in a consensual union.

G²LM|LIC Policy Brief No. 34

The Socioeconomic and Reproductive Health Effects of Unequal Domestic Work on Women in Ghana

  • Monica P. Lambon-Quayefio
  • Nkechi S. Owoo
  • Abena Oduro
  • Silvya Esther Gyan
Download the PDF

sidebar

Subscribe to our mailing list
Contact us
Follow us on Bluesky
Follow us on X

Established in 1998 in Bonn, Germany, IZA is an independent, non-profit research institution supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation with a focus on the analysis of global labour markets. It operates an international network of about 1,500 economists and researchers spanning across more than 50 countries.

Based on academic excellence and an ambitious publication strategy, IZA serves as a place of communication between academic science and political practice.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) leads the UK's work to end extreme poverty. We're ending the need for aid by creating jobs, unlocking the potential of girls and women, and helping to save lives when humanitarian emergencies hit.

FCDO is a ministerial department, supported by 12 agencies and public bodies.

© 2012–2025 | IZA – Institute of Labor Economics | Code of Conduct | Imprint