Beyond the Floodwaters: Why Climate Disasters Are Women’s Economic Empowerment Issues
Over the past three weeks, the WEE-Ghana policy lens has explored how climate disasters expose interconnected dimensions of women’s economic empowerment—from the hidden burden of unpaid care work to the fragility of livelihoods and the importance of sustained public investment. In this final instalment, we examine why recovery ultimately depends on financial resilience. Recovery Requires...Continue reading→
Beyond the Floodwaters: Why Climate Disasters Are Women’s Economic Empowerment Issues
Last week’s commentary examined how climate disasters expose the fragility of women’s livelihoods. This week, we turn to another question: what determines whether communities are resilient long before the floodwaters arrive? Resilience is Built through Public Spending, Not Emergency Response When floodwaters rise, emergency response becomes the national priority. It should not be mistaken for...Continue reading→
Beyond the Floodwaters: Why Climate Disasters Are Women’s Economic Empowerment Issues
Last week’s commentary explored how climate disasters expose the often-invisible burden of unpaid care work. This week, we examine another consequence that receives far less attention: the fragility of women’s livelihoods. Floods Expose the Fragility of Women’s Livelihoods Floodwaters do not simply interrupt transport or damage infrastructure: they interrupt livelihoods. For many women working in...Continue reading→
Beyond the Floodwaters: Why Climate Disasters Are Women’s Economic Empowerment Issues
What does a recent call for gender-responsive flood policies reveal about women’s economic empowerment? Through the lens of WEE-Ghana’s research, far more than might first appear. Every rainy season, flooding returns to Ghana’s national conversation. Images of submerged homes, impassable roads, collapsed drains and displaced families dominate news bulletins and social media feeds. This year...Continue reading→
When Planning and Budgets Do Not Speak the Same Language: Reflections from WEE-Ghana’s Third Reading Session of 2026
On 18th June 2026, members of the WEE-Ghana project team convened for the third reading session of the year. The discussion was anchored on two articles: Buyana’s (2009) examination of gender-responsive local government budgeting in Uganda and Cabannes and Ming’s (2013) analysis of participatory budgeting in Chengdu, China. Together, the readings prompted a rich conversation...Continue reading→
Reflections from NETRIGHT on Digitalisation and Financial Inclusion
“Without a gender lens, policies designed to promote financial inclusion risk overlooking the distinct financial realities and needs of the people they are intended to serve.” This observation by Patricia Blankson-Akakpo, Head of Secretariat of the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), a partner organisation in the WEE-Ghana Project, draws attention to a critical...Continue reading→
Everyday Encounters with Fiscal Policy: Taxation, Public Spending, and Women’s Economic Empowerment
Preliminary Insights from the WEE-Ghana Project Every day, thousands of informal sector workers in Ghana pay market levies and fees—but what do these payments reveal about how fiscal systems shape women’s economic opportunities? Understanding how these everyday payments function requires recognising the specific nature of local revenue systems in Ghana. At the district level, many...Continue reading→
From Leave Reform to Care Systems
National discussions on maternity and paternity leave are gaining momentum. Questions of duration and financing are now firmly on the table. Yet beneath those debates lies another issue: who will actually benefit from reform? Much of the proposed framework is anchored in labour law, and labour law governs formal employment relationships. However, most Ghanaian women...Continue reading→
Who Pays for Care?
Sharing care is one thing. Sharing its cost is another. If Blog 2 examined how caregiving responsibilities might be more equitably distributed between women and men, this instalment turns to a practical question: when leave is extended — or formalised across the labour market — who absorbs the financial burden? While public servants currently receive...