Informalising the formal: The conditions of female agency workers in Ghana’s banking sector

Abstract

This article examines the working conditions of women employed through agencies in Ghana’s banking sector and questions the assumption that employment in the formal sector necessarily provides secure and favourable working conditions.

Drawing on research with female bank workers, the study finds that agency employees experience conditions that resemble those commonly associated with informal employment. These include weaker employment contracts, lower wages, limited job security and restricted opportunities for workers to negotiate or seek redress when problems arise.

The authors connect these conditions to broader processes of economic liberalisation and changes in employment practices in Ghana and internationally. The increasing use of employment agencies allows organisations to maintain a formally structured workplace while shifting some workers into more precarious employment relationships.

The article argues that this informalisation of formal employment has important implications for workers generally and for women in particular, demonstrating that the distinction between formal and informal work is often less clear than conventional classifications suggest.