Economic crisis and structural adjustment in Ghana have put large numbers of formal sector employees and civil servants out of work. This informalisation process has gendered consequences. Unemployed people, rural-urban migrants and school-leavers of both genders seek employment in the urban informal economy, and increasingly take up ' female' occupations -particularly in retail trade. Overcrowding in women's economic domains thus occurs. This study examines the livelihood strategies of informally employed men and women in Accra. It is argued that gender ideologies regarding appropriate occupations for women and men are continuously adapted in response to a changing political economy. Thus, even if female traders face competition, declining returns and a heavier dependency burden, frustration with government policies failing to create decent jobs (for men) is more prevalent than gender antagonism and ridicule of those who find gender-atypical ways of eking out a living.
Power plays a key role in definitions of political ecology. Likewise, empirical studies within this field tend to provide detailed presentations of various uses of power, involving corporate and conservation interventions influencing access to land and natural resources. The results include struggle and conflict. Yet, there is a lack of theoretical elaboration showing how power may be understood in political ecology. In this article, we start to fill this gap by reviewing the different theoretical perspectives on power that have dominated this field. There are combinations of influences, two of them being actor-oriented and neo-Marxist approaches used from the 1980s. Typically, case studies are presented of environmental interventions by a broad range of actors at various scales from the local to the global. The focus has been on processes involving actors behind these interventions, as well as the outcomes for different social groups. Over the last two decades, in political ecology we have increasingly seen a move in power perspectives towards poststructuralist thinking about "discursive power", inspired by Foucault. Today, the three approaches (actor-oriented, neo-Marxist and Foucauldian) and their combinations form a synergy of power perspectives that provide a set of rich and nuanced insights into how power is manifested in environmental conflicts and governance. We argue that combining power perspectives is one of political ecology's strengths, which should be nurtured through a continuous examination of a broad spectrum of social science theories on power.
Local gender ideologies vary considerably in fishing communities along the coast of Ghana. This article compares the extent to which women convert capital from the female market sphere into ownership of fishing equipment in the male fishing sphere in three ethnically diverse communities -Moree (Fante), Kpone (Ga-Adangbe) and Dzelukope (Anlo-Ewe). Kinship ideologies, post-marital residence patterns, and gender division of labour and roles in the local fishing economies shape women's place-specific manoeuvring spaces. It is argued that a loyal and trustworthy male cooperation partner is a prerequisite for the success of female entrepreneurs in a male arena like the fisheries.
ResumeLes ideologies liees au genre parmi les ruraux varient considerablement dans les communautes de pecheurs le long de la c6te du Ghana. Cette communication etudie aupres de trois communautes ethniques differentes-Moree (Fante), Kpone (Ga-Adangbe) et de Dzelukope (Anlo-Ewe) le degre de conversion du capital que les femmes tirent des ventes au marche en bien d'equipements de pSche dans un domaine domine par les hommes. Les ideologies de parent^, lieux de residence apres le mariage, la division du travail et la repartition des roles en fonction du genre dans les economies locales de peche, determinent le statut et 1'espace de manoeuvre reserve aux femme dans la socie"te. L'argument soutenu est qu'un partenaire fidele, credible et cooperatif, est une condition prealable pour le succes des femmes entrepreneurs dans un domaine des hommes tel que la peche.
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