The Woes of the Returnee Female Migrant: Case of Kayayei from Northern Ghana

Abstract

Women in African have being known to be associational migrants; migrating usually as company to family members. In recent years however, a lot of women migrate for their own socio-economic gains. In Ghana, these women include young and mostly uneducated females from the north of Ghana, who migrate to cities in the south to work as head porters. These women in an attempt to better their economic and social prospects endure the harsh living conditions of the city. They perceive these harsh conditions as a short term pain and sacrifice that must be made for the long term gain of becoming entrepreneurs, buying items for marriage, having enough money to care for family members among others when they eventually return back home.

Using the case study approach, this paper explores the after-city-life of these women; in an attempt to determine the extent to which their socioeconomic status is improved; it also assesses the challenges that these women, their families and communities encounter integrating them back into their lives. Results from the study showed that most of these women eventually go back home having achieved their reasons for migrating to the south, they and their communities and families however encounter many challenges upon the return of some of them because of behavioral changes as influenced by of city life and culture.

Key words: Migration, Kayayei, Poverty