The Truth Is Far From Romantic | Kayayei Chiropractic Research

Kayayei is the colloquial term for a female head porter in Ghana. It means she who carries the burden. Headcarrying is often romanticized as a symbol of the Strong African Woman. In July of 2021 The Or Foundation began an extensive study into the causes, conditions and effects of the Kayayei Trade in Ghana. In Accra’s Kantamanto Market, the largest secondhand clothing market and reuse hub in the world, thousands of women headcarry bales weighing 55kg or more filled with secondhand clothing and fashion waste from the Global North. The women and girls working as kayayei in Kantamanto and other markets regularly carry loads for a kilometer or more. They are paid less US $1 per trip. They labor in debt slavery and live for survival. With secondhand retailers struggling to make a profit due to the influx of low quality goods, the cheap labor of the women working as kayayei continues to be essential to the resale economy. The Or Foundation has received reports of several women working as kayayei who have been killed on the job, their necks breaking under the loads they carry. We have also met with a woman whose baby was killed when the bale she was carrying fell backwards, crushing him to death. With pressures from Climate Change affecting opportunities in the rural North of Ghana, young women and girls pursue their ambitions in Ghana’s bustling capital, Accra, along the southern coast. Once in Accra they face persistent discrimination and marginalization from most public s