My mate discouraged me [from continuing school] by saying that, in fact, lately it is 

more difficult to get jobs even if you get the highest of all qualifications. So why worry 

oneself to continue and waste time schooling when one is only going to be jobless? So I 

quit school and started trading.  

She went on to explain how her stepfather reacted to her dropping out of school. 

In fact, my stepfather in particular was very disappointed and did all he could to send me 

back to school, but I refused. My mother also tried to talk to me of my school, but I 

refused to listen to both of them and did whatever I wanted. But now I wish I had 

continued. [Rachel] 

According to the girls' reports, only 5 of the 29 participants were in school when they 

had their first sexual experience and only 4 were in school when they got pregnant for the first 

time. The teachers interviewed in the study tended to confirm that the girls did not become 

pregnant before leaving school. For example, even the teachers with the longest tenure (42 years) 

could recall only two cases of a student who left school because of pregnancy. Most of the 

teachers could not describe any such firsthand experiences with students.  

3.2 

Boyfriends, Dating, and Sex 

When we asked the participants why they got involved with their boyfriends, they all 

cited both love and financial support. For example, when asked whether she had gotten involved 

with her boyfriends for financial support, Yolanda said, 

Well, much as I did love them, the first and second ones were also money motivated. I 

was then in school and needed some financial support. And since they were in a position 

to help, I gave in. [Yolanda] 

Pellow described the presence of this social dynamic in Ghana as far back as the 1970s: 

 Today premarital sexual life is woven round the notion of material recompense for sex, and no 

self respecting woman would enter into a premarital sexual relationship without the potential for 

material recompense  (Pellow, 1977), as have others more recently (Ankomah and Ford, 1994; 

Mikell, 1988). 

Dinan distinguishes this type of  sexual exchange,  which is considered acceptable to 

both men and women in Ghanaian society, from  formal prostitution,  which is not (Dinan, 

1983).  

In general, the participants objected to any suggestion in the interviewers' questions that 

they got involved with men because of money alone. Ruth clarified this by saying, 

Okay, not financial support, but he saw me and he liked me; so I was seeing him. It's not 

just because of money that a woman sees a man. [Ruth] 

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