More Ghanaian women are entering the workforce, but many remain in low-paying and informal jobs that offer little opportunity for growth. This concern was raised by Robert Taliercio, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, at the Women and Jobs in Africa Policy Research Workshop in Accra. The Workshop was organised jointly by the University of Ghana, Legon, the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) and the World BankBank’s Center for Research on Women and Jobs in Africa.
High Participation, Low Pay
Although women participate actively in Ghana’s economy, most are engaged in informal trading, small family farming and low-profit self-employment. These jobs provide income, but not enough security, training or upward mobility. Meanwhile, men are more represented in better-paid jobs in construction, technology and business services.
Taliercio noted that the issue is not that women are not working. They are working hard, but often in jobs that keep them at the same income level year after year.
Gender Gaps Go Beyond Jobs
President and CEO of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, added that despite overwhelming evidence of the economic benefits of women’s participation, progress has been frustratingly slow. She said women remain overrepresented in the informal sector and underrepresented in leadership and innovation.
According to her, young women face even steeper challenges, with worse jobs, fewer opportunities, and limited paths for advancement.
“For too long, economics and policymaking have been treated as gender-neutral,” she said. “Neutrality doesn’t work when women and men don’t start from a level playing field. That’s why we must be intentional, embedding gender into the heart of policy design and implementation.”
She explained that ACET’s Gender Equality Programme was created to ensure gender is treated as a central pillar of economic policymaking, not an afterthought. The initiative works with governments to integrate gender analysis into every stage of policy, eliminate barriers that hold women back, and promote evidence-based action through partnerships and advocacy.
Agriculture and Agribusiness Can Change the Picture
He pointed out that agriculture and agribusiness hold some of the strongest potential for lifting women’s incomes. Women already play major roles in farming, food processing and market distribution. With improved seeds, access to finance, irrigation and stronger links to buyers and processors, these activities could generate higher earnings and more stable employment.
Agribusiness, he said, is one of the sectors most capable of creating jobs quickly, particularly for young women entering the workforce.
What Needs to Change
Taliercio highlighted several steps that could help women move into better-quality jobs. These include improving access to credit for women-led businesses, strengthening vocational and technical skills training, investing in rural infrastructure to reduce market barriers and helping young women transition successfully from school into work.
He stressed that supporting women to move from survival-level work into productive, higher-skilled jobs is essential for Ghana’s long-term development.
A Turning Point for Ghana
Ghana’s youth population is rising, and many entering the job market will be women. Taliercio said improving the quality of jobs available to them is not only important for fairness, but also for growth. When women earn more, families invest more in education, nutrition and health. Communities benefit as well.
“If Ghana creates better job opportunities for women, the gains will be shared across households, communities and the whole economy,” he said.
