A minority of the girls said that they had gotten sexually involved with a boy or man 

because of money or because they were not looked after by their parents. Although some cited 

the previous reasons, further questioning exposed multiple other motivations. For example, 

Karen said, 

I got involved with him because they [my parents] were not looking after me. He was 

giving me money to eat with, then I would also work and add some to it.  That's how I got 

involved with him. [Karen] 

But Karen, whose boyfriend denied responsibility when she got pregnant, also said,   

Yes, I did love him, but the way he behaved when I got pregnant! [Karen] 

Although the reasons for becoming involved were not wholly financial, in Ga Mashi as 

in other places in Ghana financial contributions to support daily life were an expected part of 

developing a relationship with a boyfriend. The financial contributions of the boyfriend to the 

daily needs of the girl were referred to as  chop money.  Abu made the following observation 

about chop money, which suggests the degree to which the practice is embedded in love 

relationships:  Chop money,  the Ghanaian English phrase for  money for food,  is the subject 

of much marital strife. The Akan verb stem di (to consume, enjoy) refers both to eating and to 

sexual relations. Moreover, the Ghanaian English verb  to chop  refers to both food and 

sex Chop money is both a practical economic arrangement and a symbol of love. A man's 

interest in a woman is indicated by how much effort he makes to satisfy her needs  (Abu, 1983). 

Abu suggests that the regular contribution of chop money is a feature of not only premarital but 

also of married life in Ghana, and that it is one of the conditions of an ongoing relationship.  

The girls participating in the study used chop money for their daily needs. Besides food, 

it was used for medical expenses, school fees, clothes, or for miscellaneous items needed on a 

day to day basis. If the boyfriend was unable to provide any support, the girl did not stay with 

him long term, regardless of whether or not she loved him. 

I loved him, but he could not buy me the things I wanted. He was not working, he could 

not help me, and I was not grown; I was not doing anything. [Arial] 

The daily needs of the girls from poorer families may make them more likely to use chop 

money for basic rather than luxury items. However, the participants said that they did not get 

involved solely for this reason.  

3.3 

Common Sense in Dating and the Girls' Reports about Parental Supervision  

The girls' reports of their parents' and guardians' responses to their early sexual activities 

suggest that sex with boyfriends was more strongly discouraged while the girls were still in 

school. Parents used a variety of means to discourage their daughters from having sex. Joy, for 

example, explained how her mother convinced her to wait to have sex with her current husband, 

who is six years older than her. 

When I got to form 1 at the age of 13, at the time my husband was expressing interest in 

me, my mother called me and told me I was not old enough to go into relationship, so I 

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