Cross-Cultural Comparison of Tamale and Salt Lake City Experience of Unemployed Women With Physical Disabilities

Abstract

Gender and disability interacts to create several challenges and vulnerabilities for women with disabilities. This paper explores and compares the daily experiences of unemployed women with physical disabilities in Tamale-Ghana and Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States.

Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 women with physical disabilities about their experiences with employment, unemployment and how unemployment affects their lives. Outcome suggests that the women encounter several challenges in their daily lives relating to mobility, family relationships, income, social participation and living arrangement. While some of the experiences undoubtedly differ between the two studies, some, interestingly, were similar across the two geographic regions regardless of the cultural differences.