‘Ghana’s poverty has a woman’s face’

A Professor of Human and Development Geography at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has warned that poverty in Ghana is increasingly feminised, with women bearing a disproportionate share of deprivation, particularly in rural communities.

Professor Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei made the remarks during his professorial inaugural lecture at the university’s Great Hall on Thursday, February 19, 2026. His lecture was delivered under the theme, “Is Poverty a Rural Phenomenon?”

Drawing from his research and policy brief, the professor told the audience that poverty patterns in Ghana show clear gender and geographic disparities. He alluded that women in Ghana are experiencing poverty and its attending incidents as compared to Ghanaian men.

“Poverty has a woman’s face, with its incidence and severity higher among women, especially in developing countries like Ghana.” Professor Osei-Owusu revealed.

He further explained that multidimensional poverty indicators are consistently higher in rural areas than in urban communities, with crop farmers identified as the occupational group most affected by poverty and livelihood vulnerabilities.

On issues of Migration; Osei-Wusu Adjei said chronic rural poverty continues to drive migration, contributing to the steady depopulation of many rural communities. He noted that a large share of economically active rural residents seek opportunities in cities as a means of escaping poverty.

According to findings presented in the lecture, “seven out of every ten economically active rural inhabitants exhibit an urge to leave for an urban area,” a trend he said reflects deep-seated structural challenges in rural livelihoods.

The professor argued that poverty and poor living conditions are closely connected, stating in the policy brief that “poverty breeds poor health, and poor health makes the poor much poorer.”

On the issue of women’s education and economic participation, he noted that progress in schooling has not translated into equal opportunities.

“Within the last two decades, more females in Ghana are acquiring and attaining higher formal education at rates and levels almost equal to their male counterparts,” yet “increasing educational attainment of women has not translated into correspondent increase in their economic participation and political empowerment.”

“Higher educational attainment and representation for women has not guaranteed correspondent improvement in women’s economic participation and opportunity due to the lack of suitable affirmative policy action.”

The professor said the gap explains why poverty remains more severe among women, noting that the incidence of poverty in Ghana is “inextricably higher and severe amongst women than men partly because of their limited economic participation and political empowerment.”

He warned that many poverty reduction efforts have failed to achieve lasting results because they focus on short-term relief rather than long-term empowerment.

“Most interventions have often tackled the symptoms and not the disease… They have fished for the poor but not taught them how to fish for themselves.”

On policy direction, the professor recommended a shift toward capability-driven strategies.

“Appropriate policy interventions, affirmative action plans and programs are necessary to improve women’s economic participation and political empowerment even with better educational attainment.”

He also urged stakeholders to rethink existing approaches, noting that governments and development actors “ought to look beyond mere cash hand-outs and relief interventions and embrace the basic means approach”, urging policymakers to adopt long-term, capability-driven strategies that strengthen rural livelihoods and address the structural causes of poverty, particularly among women and farming communities.