Food Vending Among Men in Kumasi: Socio-Cultural Advantages, Constraints, and Coping Strategies

Abstract

Research on men in female-dominated occupations has focused mainly on formal sector occupations in North American and Western European settings. It remains unclear whether men in informal sector occupations in the Global South enjoy advantages, face challenges and adopt coping strategies that are similar to those documented in literature. This research focuses on men in an informal and female-dominated occupation in Ghana. Using semi-structured interviews, this research explores the advantages men enjoy as traditional food vendors, their constraints, and the coping strategies they adopt. This research found that while male traditional food vendors face some social ridicule, they nonetheless enjoy certain gendered advantages at the expense of other female food vendors. This research contributes to a further understanding of the effects of gendered perceptions on the wellbeing of both male and female vendors, and thereby provides stakeholder organisations with knowledge needed to improve the well-being of street food vendors.