The Socio-Economic Circumstances Of Women Engaged In Groundnut Oil Processing In Tolon-Kumbungu District Of The Northern Region

ABSTRACT

Women all over the world play a key role in the socio-economic development of every country. In Ghana, as in elsewhere. the varied ~t~grees of empowennent due to the social, economic and cultural nonns and practices have attracted interventions that seek to push forward the advancement of women. A study into the socio-economic circumstances of omen is thus important since most previous research treat women as an entity regardless of their intra-gender situations. The objective of the study was to assess the extent to which the participation of different categories of women in groundnut oil processing enterprises and projects had affected their socio-economic lives. The research uses data from both primary and secondary sources. It considers three malO categories of women processing groundnut oil in the Tolon-Kumbungu District: Current partici;Jants in donor intervention projects: Former participants in donor intervention projects; and Non-participants of donor intervention projects. The study showed that where women were economically independent, they were more active in decision-making. Additionally. business capitalization matched with access to skills training and functional education to enhance productivity and subsequently, the socio-economic status of Vomen. The core problem faced by these groups of women was poor access to market opportunities resulting in low pricing for their products and actually. low incomes. Access to regular and medium term finance and inputs. a~ well as safe working environment seemed to be a problem that cut across all the three groups of women. The study recommer.cs that interventions for women should have wider coverage if the advancement of women is to be realized.