Determinants of Non-Farm Work Participation in Rural Ghana: Gender Differences for Self-Managed Business and Wage Labor

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of participation in the different types of non-farm activities (self-managed business and wage labor) in rural Ghana, with a focus on gender differences and the availability of various kinds of individually managed agricultural assets. The main results are as follows. The productive assets a woman individually manages had a significantly positive effect on the probability of participation in a self-managed business. However, this relationship was not found in the case of men's participation or in engagement in wage labor of both sexes. Women's own asset management could promote their participation in self-managed businesses.