Publication Date
Spring 2005
Abstract
The following paper seeks to address the complex structures that women have created to facilitate their multiple roles in society. I argue that although there is great community in these female-dominated spheres they have formed to orchestrate their duties, the pattern of gender-division is both a product and a perpetuation of the marginalization of their space in the greater society. I open my paper with an anecdotal analysis of the micro-community of a woman's world that the market provides, detailing the complex social, political, and economic structures within that realm. I continue to commend the complexity of this community but to call attention to the lack of ownership these women have once they leave he market environment. Then I move into an analysis of the ways that these market relations have been transported into the public and private gender spheres of women in more formal realms. Here I analyze the new issues that women face in this work and how many of these issues, such as competition, discrimination, lack of access to education, and social conditioning, have led their opportunities to be compartmentalized and limited. I conclude the paper with a discussion of he significance of these spaces in a culturally appropriate understanding of Western feminism.
Recommended Citation
Bean, Emily Starr, "Engendered Spaces: An Analysis of the Formation and Perpetuation of Female Spheres in Ghana" (2005). African Diaspora ISPs. 68.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/african_diaspora_isp/68