In Dorimon, women are the leading providers of household needs in most homes. The men in Dorimon are not like men in the south who provide ‘chop money’ [housekeeping money] and the needs of their wives and children. For this reason, women here [Dorimon community] are heavily burdened with providing for the entire household members. You would have to produce charcoal to get the money needed for household needs, especially during the lean season [FGD, Female, Dorimon].
Charcoal production is a woman’s work. Women cook with charcoal, so they have to produce it. We came to meet this practice. It is a tradition [FGD, Male, Dorimon].
Women’s gender roles such as cooking were cited as the basis for non-participation of men in charcoal production.
Generally, some female farmers stated that they engage in brewing and selling of ‘pito’ (sorghum beer) as a principal coping strategy. ‘Pito’ is widely consumed in the Upper West Region as a ceremonial drink. This activity is also related to women’s gender role of cooking in the study communities.
Complementary coping
The main complementary coping strategy at the study sites was waged work. The female and male respondents reported becoming day laborers to building contractors during the hunger period (April- August). The women noted that they supply sand and stones using a head pan at the construction sites. The female FGD revealed that they were compelled to work for lower wages because of their responsibility to support household needs particularly during the stress periods of the year. One of the married female farmers had this to say:
Irushtoconstructionsiteswherelabourservicesarerequired.Usually, there is informal information about ‘by-day’ [daily wage] jobs. However, because the labor supply exceeds the demand, the contractors pay less. The man [building contractor] paid two Ghana Cedis for the day’s work instead of the five Ghana Cedis standard rate for the job done. What can I do, my children need to eat.
However, the men did not report of receiving lower wages for their labor services. The activities of the men span from loading and off-loading trucks with building materials such as sand and stones.
Collection of ‘DawaDawa’ is another complementary individual coping strategy. Dawadawa is prepared from the seeds of ‘parkia biglobosa’ also referred to as African locust bean tree. It is a good source of protein, fat and calcium. According to the respondents, a portion of the processed dawadawa is sold for cash and the remaining is used as seasoning. Both the female and male participants described the collection and processing of ‘dawadawa’ as a task for women. The FGD participants explained that the dawadawa gathering and processing is within the scope of women because it is connected to women’s reproductive role such as cooking. For instance, 44-year old woman noted that:
Men do not prepare food using dawadawa because they do not have the skill required in processing the dawadawa. Women are responsible for making food for the household. Women, not men, use Dawadawa.
The dawadawa production becomes important after December when the harvesting of corn is over.
Some of the women reported that they turn to fuelwood collection and food vending as complementary coping strategies. Men were never involved in food vending and fuelwood collection. Female participants noted that they sell the fuelwood to women who are engaged in the brewing of pito (Figure 2).