Invisible Engines of the Market: The Contribution of Kayayei (Female Head Porters) to Ghana’s Urban Economy

                                                                            Picture credit: Graphic Online Ghana

 

In Ghana’s bustling markets, the kayayei (female head porters) carry the literal weight of commerce. Moving goods from wholesalers to retailers and consumers, they provide low-cost urban logistics that keep markets functioning. Yet their indispensable labor remains invisible in official economic accounts and policy debates. Without them, Ghana’s marketplaces would falter.

 

The term kayayei, from "kaya" (goods) in Hausa and "yoo or yei" (woman/women) in Ga language, reveals how gender structures their role. Most of these women are migrants from the northern part of Ghana, pushed by poverty and limited opportunities into precarious urban labor. While the informal economy is undervalued, it sustains national growth (Chen, 2012). Kayayei not only enhance market efficiency but also send remittances to rural households, embedding their earnings in Ghana’s broader economy (Opare, 2003). With the informal sector accounting for over 80% of employment in Ghana, their contribution is undeniable, even if rendered invisible.

 

Yet this visibility in labor is matched by invisibility in rights. Kayayei often work long hours under dangerous conditions for meager pay. A 2018 study reported that many earn as little as 5–20 Ghana cedis (less than $2 USD) per day, despite carrying loads that can weigh over 50 kilograms (Osei-Boateng & Ampratwum, 2011). Their sleeping conditions in open markets or poorly secured kiosks expose them to physical harm. More troublingly, studies indicate that nearly 70% of kayayei have experienced sexual harassment or violence, and many recount stories of rape, robbery, and abuse at the hands of traders or security forces (Yeboah, 2010). Teenage mothers among them must juggle childcare with labor, often carrying infants on their backs while transporting goods. Kabeer (1999) conceptualizes this as gendered poverty, where intersecting inequalities deny women real choices and force them into survival strategies. Feminist economists have long argued that such undervalued and underpaid labor sustains economies while reinforcing systemic gender hierarchies. The kayayei embody this paradox: simultaneously indispensable and disposable.

 

Policy responses illustrate the limits of dominant development frameworks. Women in Development (WID) inspired interventions such as shelters, vocational training, or charitable relief tend to treat kayayei as dependents needing rescue rather than as workers deserving labor rights. Women and Development (WAD) approaches draw attention to their structural exploitation within global and class inequalities, yet often overlook the specifically gendered dynamics of violence and vulnerability. By contrast, the Gender and Development (GAD) framework highlights how production and reproduction intersect: kayayei’s economic labor is inseparable from the burdens of care, the risks of violence, and the denial of dignity (Rathgeber, 1990).

 

As many feminist scholars note, women’s labor has historically been appropriated while their rights remain denied. Recognizing kayayei through a GAD lens means reimagining them not as passive victims but as economic actors whose labor sustains Ghana’s markets. Doing so would shift policy from paternalistic welfare to structural reform: providing fair wages, safe housing, protections against gender-based violence, and social recognition of their contributions.

Kayayei are not simply vulnerable subjects, they are the invisible engines of Ghana’s urban economy. To continue to ignore them is to ignore the very foundations on which Ghana’s markets depend.

Here is a link to a documentary that captures the realities of kayayei in Ghana:

https://youtu.be/rR-OnlLnXLA?si=nIikwX7B1GmCyTPZ

References

Chen, M. A. (2012). The informal economy: Definitions, theories and policies. WIEGO Working Paper No. 1. Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing. https://www.wiego.org/publications/informal-economy-definitions-theories-and-policies 

Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment. Development and change, 30(3), 435-464.

Opare, J. A. (2003). Kayayei: the women head porters of southern Ghana. Journal of social development in Africa, 18(2).

Osei-Boateng, C., & Ampratwum, E. (2011). The informal sector in Ghana (pp. 23-35). Accra: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Ghana Office.

Rathgeber, E. M. (1990). WID, WAD, GAD: Trends in research and practice. The journal of developing areas, 24(4), 489-502.

 Yeboah, M. A. (2010). Urban poverty, livelihood, and gender: Perceptions and experiences of porters in Accra, Ghana. Africa Today, 56(3), 42-60.