By Francis Ntow, GNA
Accra, June 12, GNA – Women in the northern parts of Ghana spend more than four times as many minutes per day on unpaid care work as men, representing an 80 per cent burden in providing care for children, the elderly and people with disability and illness.
The women also provide other support to families, including cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and related care activities like collecting water and fuel, a disparity that is even sharper than the national average, a study has disclosed.
The findings of the study under the United for Care-Sensitive Approaches to Rights and Empowerment (UCARE) project, was presented at a dissemination event, organised by the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), in Accra, on Wednesday.
The study, which used data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 6) and the Ghana Time Use Survey, found that nationally, women spent 147 minutes per day on unpaid care work compared to 49 minutes for men.
However, in the Northern, North East, and Savannah regions, the quantitative study observed a widened gap, with women spending 212 minutes daily against 50 minutes for men.
Among adults aged 19 to 49 – the prime working and childcare years, Savannah women spend over five times more time than their male counterparts on unpaid care tasks, compared to the national ratio of three to one.
In the three regions, it was observed that women spent an average of 44.5 minutes in cooking per day, compared with men’s four minutes, while fetching water was 21.2 minutes for women against 4.5 minutes for men.
Women spent 31.8 minutes in childcare while men used 6.5 minutes.
For fetching of firewood, women used 19 minutes, whereas men spent 2.5 minutes.
While women dedicated 29.7 minutes to washing clothes, men on the other hand spent 4.5 minutes and in running errands men devoted 14 minutes compared with the 10.6 minutes by women.
A complementary qualitative analysis, which engaged stakeholders, including Regional Coordinating Councils, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), and civil society organisations, also provided details on the root causes driving the disparity.
The disparity was largely attributed to more remote settlement patterns, greater infrastructure deficits (such as pipe-borne water systems, rural electrification, and early childhood centres), and deeply embedded gender norms.
It was also noted that the socially constructed notion that unpaid care work was inherently seen as women’s domain, with men who attempted to participate risking social ridicule, as patrilineal inheritance systems, early marriage, persistent poverty, and religious beliefs, compounding the problem.
“Marriage embedded in a patriarchal system reinforces the view that men are primary breadwinners, with unpaid care responsibilities transferred almost entirely to a wife once she is married,” said Ms Lydia Dogee, Gender Equality and Social Inclusive Specialist with UCARE and one of the researchers.
She explained that time poverty among women translated into lower economic participation, reduced presence in community decision-making, poorer academic performance among girls, and higher illiteracy rates.
“Marriage increases women’s unpaid care work and reduces men’s, widening the gap. Households with young children also significantly increases the gender gap,” Koffi Kpelitse, Statistical Analyst with UCARE, noted.
He called for expanded childcare services, improved access to water and energy infrastructure, and sustained campaigns to promote men’s participation in care work, not as favours to women but as a shared social responsibility.
Nonetheless, the study reported that the UCARE project, funded by the Government of Canada at CAD9.8 million, and running through March 2029, has started recording early progress.
Field observations noted that some communities were beginning to reframe unpaid care as a family responsibility rather than a woman’s obligation, with adolescent boys starting to view care tasks as gender-neutral skills for independent living.
At the MMDA level, it was reported that district development planning processes were increasingly incorporating unpaid care considerations.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Francis Ntow
[email protected]