Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Keywords
People with disabilities--Employment--Ghana; People with disabilities--Services for--Ghana;
Journal/Book/Conference Title Title
African Journal of Disability
Volume
4
Issue
1
Abstract
The exploratory quantitative study sought to develop an understanding about the relationships among disability, gender and employment in Northern Ghana. A total of 110 individuals with disabilities (20–60 years) from various disability groups participated in the study. The results indicate that many persons with disabilities are unemployed, the majority being women. Discrimination is cited as the greatest barrier to the employment of persons with disabilities, particularly women. The majority of persons with disabilities, typically women, live in poverty; given that some are unemployed and those who are employed worked mostly in marginal, seasonal and menial jobs. Persons with disabilities also experience several challenges on the job, including negative perceptions about their capabilities, discrimination and exclusion, irrespective of the employment sector and disability type. Educational interventions such as workshops, documenting and showcasing success stories of persons with disabilities could be helpful to reduce negative perceptions about their capabilities as well as discrimination against them. Government intervention to support persons with disabilities with start-up capital and funding for formal education is also recommended as these two elements were identified respectively as barriers to self-employment and employment in the public/private sectors. Government interventions to create educational opportunities for persons with disabilities are essential given that lower educational attainment affect their employment.
Department
Department of Social Work
Original Publication Date
6-3-2015
DOI of published version
10.4102/ajod.v4i1.95
Repository
UNI ScholarWorks, University of Northern Iowa, Rod Library
Copyright
©2015 Augustina Naami
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Date Digital
2015
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Naami, Augustina, "Disability, Gender, and Employment Relationships in Africa: The Case of Ghana" (2015). Faculty Publications. 1.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/swk_facpub/1
Comments
First published in African Journal of Disability, v. 4 n. 1 (2015), 11 pages, published by African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd t/a AOSIS. DOI:10.4102/ajod.v4i1.95