Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Women merchants--Health and hygiene--Ghana--Accra; Women merchants--Work environment--Ghana--Accra; Maternal health services;

Abstract

Improving maternal health and women’s health is necessary, especially in countries with high maternal and child mortality rates. Most research on maternal health focuses on women’s reproductive health and, as a result, very little is known about the impact of occupation on maternal health (World Health Organization, 2006). It is also interesting to know that “Occupational Health Research” has been heavily criticized for the general absence of a gender standpoint, usually resulting in the exclusion of women and their concerns at the workplace (World Health Organization, 2006). In Ghana, an open-air market is an integral place of work for women. The economic contributions of market women are what drives the consumer economy of Ghana. And yet, work conditions for market women are poor and appalling. A majority of markets are situated within (or near) slums and so these markets exhibit similar environmental characteristics as slums. The unhealthy market conditions threaten the health and wellbeing of the market women. This research investigates the occupational health challenges of maternal market traders in Accra. Using face-to-face interviews and participant observation, twenty four maternal market traders (participants) were interviewed about their occupational health challenges. First, the participants identified existing work hazards and further discussed how those hazards affected their health and wellbeing. Findings suggest that maternal market traders face some occupational health risks that have a significant toll on their physical, mental and social health. Therefore, there is a need for the implementation of immediate safety measures.

Year of Submission

2019

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology

Department

Women's and Gender Studies Program

First Advisor

Mark Grey, Chair, Thesis Committee

Object Description

1 PDF file (vi, 172)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Click below to download additional content.

Joyceline Amoako thesis defense presentation.pdf (5066 kB)

Comments?

Share

COinS