Negotiating caring practices among internal migrant women in Accra-Ghana

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the negotiation of care provision, changes in caring practices post-migration and the impact of women`s internal, North-South migration on gender and family relations and communities of origin in Ghana. Ten in-depth interviews with migrant women revealed that women have become frontrunners in the migration process, engaging in different modalities of care where they negotiate with spouses and other family members for the care of their left behind families. The story of negotiating caring practices shows that women’s migration changes gender and family roles to an extent, while, at the same time it reproduces them. There are financial, material and emotional consequences of migration on migrant women and their families as well as their communities of origin. Directions for future research should include the impacts of care-giving on left behind families from their own experiences, and the reconstruction of masculinities from men`s perspectives.