Women may be half of the workforce, but they have largely been concentrated in lower-paying service jobs like waitresses, retail workers and administrative assistants. However, they could be moving up.
In fact, women are now dominating some of the jobs that used to belong to men, according to the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. From finance and business operations to medical management, women now outnumber men in these 20 surprising jobs.
Here in Ghana, Ms Joyce Korkor is breaking the status quo after she inherited her late husband’s vulcanizing business. In a bid to keep body and soul together, she has been plying for the past 7 years.
Joyce who is affectionately called Obaa Yaa is in her mid-thirties. She once hoped to join the military but failed after she got married at an age of 21. She is a mother of 4 children.
“I had someone working for me until he showed gross insubordination. He was recalcitrant and came to work at odd times”, said Obaa Yaa
Undoubtedly a masculine trade requires the ability to exert muscles and be more dexterous. But, Joyce seemed to have mastered her craft pretty well.
It is no surprise she now attracts clients like Dan who is impressed to see a woman in a male-dominated field for the first time.
According to him, he deems it refreshing to see a woman in this field. “Lately women are so reliant on government but she has taken the step to work for herself”, says Dan Gariba.
Research by the World Bank says 44 per cent of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana are owned by women.
With about 92 per cent of businesses, largely within the private sector, contributing to 70 per cent of Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP).
As the world continues to put in place measures to break the bias and to ensure that people from both genders are offered equal opportunities in terms of decent work, Obaa Yaa’s courage to venture into vulcanizing is a sure catalyst to push more women into other male-dominated fields.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Muyeba Abukari
