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ECA/ATRCW/88 UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA

African Women's Work in the Informal Sector

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Part I

I.

II.

Part 11.

I.

II.

III.

Women Entrepreneurs in the Informal Sector and measures for strengthening their participation in such Role.

A. INTRODUCTION

Summary review of the status of Women Entrepreneurs in Kenya, Mauritius, Swaziland and Zambia.

Women in the Informal Sector in Kenya INTRODUCTION - KENYA STUDY

THE HOLE OF WOMEN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR A. Specific Data on Kenyan Women in the Informal Sector.

B. Women Petty Traders in Nairobi

C. Demographic Information on the Women Interviewed D. Women combine several subsistence activities.

E. Women Traders' Views of Formal Sectors PETTY TRADING COMPARED TO SHOPKEEPING

A. Women Petty Traders Income Levels and Expenditure B. Business Women in Nakuru

C. The Relation between capital and Business chosen

1

1

1- 5 6- 35 7 7- 14 lO- I I 11 11- 12 12- 13 13- 14 14- 18 14 11;- 16 16- 18

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- 2

IV. POLICY ENVIROMENT IN WHICH WOMEN OPERATE IN

INFORMAL SECTO;~ IN KENYA

A. Some Legal Impediments Towards the Informal Sector in Kenya

B. The Implications of a Hostile Policy Enviroment for Women operators in the sector

18- 21 20 20- 21

V. THE HOLE OF NGO's GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND OTHER

MULTILATERAL AND BILATERAL ORGANIZATIONS IN AIDING

THE INFORMAL SECTOR 21- 27

VI.

VII.

Part III I.

II.

A. Government intervention in the informal sector B. Women's Bureau

C. Bilateral and multilateral 'agenices D. Non-governmental organizations and their

relation to the informal sector

FIELD OBSERVATION OF WOMEN"h3USINESS IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN KENYA

CONCLUSION A. Summary'

B. Research needs and major areas for policy intervention

C. Policy issues D. Recommendations E. References

F. , Acknowledgements

WOMEN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN MAUHITIUS INTRODUCTION : MAUHITIUS STUDY

INFOllMAL SECTOR IN MAUInTIUS

A. Study of informal sector in Mauritius B. Data on Mauritian Women in the

informa I sector

21- 23 23- 24 24

25- 27 27- 29 29 29- 30 30 30 31 32- 34 35

36- 62

37- 38 38- 43 40- 42 42-43

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III.

IV.

V.

VI.

Part IV.

I.

II.

lViAUl~ITIAN WOMEN IN FORMAL EMPLOYMENT GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTION TO MAURITIAN WOMEN IN THE INFOHMAL SECTOR

A. Policy Enviroment

B. Non-governmental organizations and other agencies

FIELD OBSERVATION A . Case histories CONCLUSION A. Summary

B. Research needs and major areas for policy attention

C. Policy issues D. Recommendations ,E. References

F. Acknow l edgements

WOEMN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN SWAZILAND INTRODUCTION - SWAZILAND STUDY

THE INFOl,MAL SECTOR IN SWAZILAND

43:- 46 46- 50 47- 48

48- 50 50- 56 51- 56 56- 62 57

58 58 58- 59 60- 61 62

63

64 64- 67 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INFORMAL SECTOR 67- 69 A. Number of Children

B. Education

C. Levels of Income in Urban Informal Sector D. Infrastructural facilities

67- 68

68

68

68- 69

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- 4 -

IV.

V.

VI.

SWAZI WOMEN IN WAGE EMPLOYMENT SWAZI WOMEN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR

THE ROLE OF NGO's GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, AND BILATERAL OHGANIZATIONS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE INFOHMAL SECTOR

A. Small Enterprise Development -Cornpany (SEDCO) B. NGO'g and other Agencies' Intervention in

Swaziland's Informal Sector

C. Assistance from International Agencies

69- 10 10- 73

73- 79 14- 16 16- 11 17-19

VII.

VIII.

IX.

SOME MAJOR CONSTILAINTS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF

THE INFORMAL SECTOR

19-

81

FIELD OBSERVATIONS 82- 83

Conclusion 83- 90

Part V.

I.

II.

A. Summary

B. Research needs and major areas for policy attention C. Policy issues

D. Recommendations E. References

F. Acknowledgements

WOMEN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN ZAMBIA INT'RODUCTION - ZAMBIA STUDY

THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN ZAMBIA A. Women in Zambia's Informal Sector B. trading

C. Lack of support structures for women in the informal sector

83- 85 85 85 86- 81 88- 89 90 91-117 92-

93 93- 99 94- 96 96- 99

99

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III.

IV.

V.

SOME GENERAL CONSTHAINTS TO FEMALE PARTICIPATION

IN ZAMBIA'

s

INFOhMAL SECTOn 99-100

POLICY ENVIROMENT AND ITS EFFECTS ON WOMEN

ENTREPRENEURS 100-102

THE ROLE OF NGO's GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES IN AIDING WOMEN IN

THE INFORMAL SECTon 102-106

VI.

VII.

A. Village Industries Services (VIS) B. Small Enterprise Promotion (SEP)

C. Non-Governmental organizations (NGO's) D. International organizations

FIELD OBSERVATIONS A. Handicrafts

B. Commodity Trading C • Dressmaking

D. Catering CONCLUSION A. Summary

B. Research needs and major areas for policy attention

C. Policy Issues D. Hecommendations E. Heferences

F. Acknowledgements

103 103-104 104-105 105-106 106-110 106-107 108 108-109 109-110 110-117 110 111 111 111-113 114-116 117

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PART I

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR

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The situation of women in the informal sector was brought to international attention in the Nairobi ForWard-L?oki~9..,~aratlieies for the Advancement of Women. These Strategies called for governments

,to

r\lcpgnize the importance of improving condltions and structures of the informal sector fbr national industrial development and the role of women in it. This is to be done by providing women access to credit, training facilities, marketing opportunities and technological guidance.

In this context particular attention should be devoted to the informal sector since it is a major employment outlet for e considerable number of women both in rural and urban areas. Accordingly, because of the current economic crisis, there is a tremondous shift and emphasis into the informal sector as it continues to absorb more and more of the unemployed The Ford Foundation which supports activities related to women's employment and food production activities supported this study. In line with the interest of the Ford Foundation, the African Training and I~esearch Centre for Women (ATRCW), commussioned Dr. Wambui Wa Karanja as a consultant to research the role of women in the informal sector. The research which was undertaken in March, July and August of 1988 covered Kenya, Mauritius, Swaziland and Zambia. The consultant visited the four countries and was responsible for the research and preparation of these studies whose findings are reported in this document..

Part I of this document therefore provides an introduction to the study, and a .summary review of the status of women entrepreneurs in the four countries visited (Kenya, Mauritius, Swaziland and Zarnbie), While Parts, II, III, IV and V provide more detailed information on the research findings in the informal sector in Kenya, Mauritius, SWii~iland and Zambia respectively. Finally, Part VI draws conclusions and advances ·suggestions and or recommendations on measures, strategies mechanisms, ways and means by which the present status of women and their participation in the informal sector could be strengthened, improved

and enhanced. .

II. SUMMARY REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN KENYA, MAURri'IUS, SWAZALAND DAND ZAMBIA

It is proposed in this section to compare and contrast data on female participation in the "informal sector" obtained from four countries, namely, Kenya, Mauritius; Swaziland and Zambia. But before doing so, it is thought necessary to discuss, if only briefly, what is meant by the concept of the informal sector.

Conceptual confusion in discourses of the informal sector seems to have inevitably culminated into numerous "definitions" and perceptions of the informal sector. In fact, most of· what goes under definitions of informal sector, is perhaps betterAermed dlscrlptions of the informal sector. Whatever the case, the concept cf the informal sector cannot be defined without going into some details about its history and evolution (sethuraman, 1981:100).

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Page 2.

Thus, the ILO (Loc. cit, 6) study on Kenya characterised the informal sector as follows,

,

Thus, the concept of the infermal sector owes its existence largely to the ILO mISSIOn (1972) on Employment, Incomes and equality in KeJ\ya.; ,'tIe say largely because of the dis::hctomisation"vi economies of poor countries"intc 'traditional or rural (agricultural) and

I ";'

modern, (urban) development literature had'previOUl>lY'iIi'~pired'a number of studies on activities

2 and

opefattons

which could now be perceived as falling under the general umbrella of the

i'

r. informal economy orsector, , ' ' " , ,

,

(a) ease of entry; ","

, I '

'(b>, reliance on indigenous resources;

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family ownership of enterprises;

,(d~,small scale of operations; '''.;..

1,1 , ,'

(e~labour-intensive and adaptec technology; ,,, .'''''(f)skills acquired

cut~ide,

the formal schoolsysterru and

(g) unregulated and competitive markets'.

In addition, there are other characterisations of the informal sector, such as unprotected, unregulated, illicit,a,nd the like. ThUS, there seems to be as' many definitfons of the informal sector and die subsequent .prcblems of policy interventions,

'or

these. (jilema, Aboagye and 'Oozo'(1962:262) have written, "As a result of the lack of a clear meaning of the concept, attempts to provide technical assistance to the sector have/illllOpin .intc problems. The imprecise definition of the sector is obviously a major problem' tppoFcY,wakers"., ,

From the foregoing, it should be clear that "there is a grent deal of confusion about what we mean by the informal sector, and how it can best be categorised" (Livingston, 1986,51).

In short, there seems to be a fundamental and inherent problems in tllyinguto formulate a single definition of this concept that will have universal validity and,ac~,e[lillnce. This, in social science research, is not at all unusual, and may tie I'elal:~d to the imprecise nature of the subject

matter Investnrated.

Given these conceptual difficulties, there is no attempt in these reports to provide a single definition of the informal sector, rather we propose, as has been done bY others to provide general characteristics of activities that might usually fall under the general scheme of the Informal sector.

The informal sector operations may be said to consist of (1) non-farm activities in the rural areas, SJJch as handicraft, trade, retail trade, servicesand the like. (Z)'urban small-scale trade, services and manufacturing, (3)" informal 'sector enterprises 'are also, usually, labour intensive, family owned, require less skills tharl 'formal Sector 'operations and, usually face perennial problems of capital formation and (4) they usually, but not always operate outside the formal economic framework, in the sense that they may not be regulated by government.

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Aboagye A. and Gozo K. "The Informal Sector , A Critical Appraisal of the Concept" in The Challenf'e of Employment and Basic Needs in Africa

aup,

Nairobi, 1986.

Callaway A. "Nirerian Indigenous Education , An apprentice System", ODU Vol. 1, N°

I, 1964.

• Bohannan P. and Dalton G. (eds), Markets in Africa (Northwestern University Press, Evanston Ill.), 1962.

Geertz C. "Peddlers and Princes' Social Change and Economic Modernisation in two Indosesian Towns, (University of Chicago Press) 1963.

ILO Employment Incomes and Equality in Kenya , a Stratecy for Increasing Employment in Kenya; ILG/Geneva, 1972.

Livingstone, 1. Hural Development, Employment and Incomes in Kenya Gower House/ILO,1986.

Mintz S., " The Employment of Capital by Market Women in Iiaite" in Firth i~:.• and Yamey B. (eds) Capital Saving and Credit in Peasant Societies (George Allen and Unwin, London) 1964

setburamen S.V. (ed) "The Lole of the Urban informal Sectc.r" in The Urban Informal Sector in Developinr: Countries : Empkyf!'ent, Poverty nne] Environment,ILO/WEP, Geneva, 1981.

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Among the countries, there are significant differences and similarities; FOr exa,mr le, there is a virtual 'absence ,of women in market place in Mauritius, whereas in Kenya; Swaziland and Zambia they absolutely dominate these sectors. In fact, in the markets we visited in Kenya, the, men 'sellinr; vegetables and fruits' in markets tended to be relatively young boys '11M one got the impression that a r,ood many of them may have been holding-fort for their m~thers.· ' . In Maurttius on the other hand, we never saw a sinrtle woman in a market place trading alone, The very few that venture into this activity, we were told, always have' male relatives with them -usually their, !1J.1l1e children. Extensive probing into reasons that might lead to

a

satisfactory explanation for this unusual phenomenon, yillided very little grounds; More research is needed. However, it was that a set of institutional and structural factors, embedded in the Mauritisian people's tradition and customs intervened to exclude women from this trade;

The dichotomy between private and public domains, and the expectation that .women should only feature in the .private domain seemed well entrenched in Mauritiusian society. . , .

In all the countries, except Mauritius, female participation in informal wage earning employment was very small. "In'Mauritius on the other hand, a minimum wage differential among other factors had led to a tremendously high participation of Mauritian women Inindustry, especially in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) sector. Interestingly, since the government took steps to equalize the minimum wage some four years ago, female participation seems to be declining. Male unemployment had become a perenial problem while women enjoyed preference for employment among employers,

Problems of capital formation is common to all entrepreneurs male or female. They were however more intense among female entrepreneurs who seemed to face discrimination from all the lending institutions including those where national governments had control over lending policies. The practices of requiring implicit or explicit approval of husbands or male relatives, existed to a lesser or ;"reater de["ree in all the countries. However, in Mauritius and Swaziland the husband's or male relatives' approval seemed an important prerequisite before leans could be secured. In Swaziland, native law and customs which seemed to enjoy equal status with "modern" or the roman Dutch Law, ensured women's exclusion from entering practically all Iecal contracts. This is causing a serious impediment to women's entrepreneurial development and indeed other forms of personal fulfillment and independent existence.

Of course, as noted, the expectation of tacit approval of male relatives, especially a husband, before a woman could transact legal business and enter legal contracts, seemed universal. However, the fact that the expectation derives le"itimancy, or is embedded in formal framework, as is the case in Swaziland, has, as we have contended, ramification of great import, All the countries, except Mauritius, seemed to face an economic crisis, incidenced by chronic unemployment and under employment, and which seemed somewhat severe in Kenya and to a lesser extent in Zambia and Swaziland in that order. Problems brought by these exonomies' and failure to generate f!rowth and development, seemed to affect mere women disproportionately relative to their male counterpart. Whenever there was some sort of disequilibrium in these economies they seemed to have less chances of securing employment and greater probability of being laid of or retrenched than their male counterparts.

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Page 4

Despite daunting structural and institutional barriers to their participation in the formal labour force, and in the informal sector especially in Kenya, Swaziland and Zambia the women seemed resilient indeed. Their tenacity is exemplified by their attempts to combine, simultaneously, several economic and income yieldinR activities in the informal sector, as a survival strategy, Thus women may participate in non-farm activities, for example, trading, domestic service and the like, while at the same time being fulltime farmers. Or consequently, they may be full-time entrepreneurs, part-time farmers, or part-time as domestic servants,' and so on. All these are, in all the four countries, combined with domestic functions.

The end result is that low-income women, whether in rural or urban areas are working extremely long hours and frequently, under appallmg and disgreable environments. Thus, they frequently have to confront insidious effects of poverty - Maurttlus is an exception. In that country, governmental intervention to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups seemed the most

comprehensive. '

Finally, there is a modicum of evidence to suggest that many women in the urban informal sector in Zambia, Kenya and Swaziland are not receiving sufficient financial support from their husbands. Many women complained that their husbands spent money en drink and other women which should have been spent on famillies, In, all these three countries, the custom

~,lJere men go to eat roasted meat and drink in beer, parlours, must, undoubtedly, lead to F!reater poverty,

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Page 7

I. INTRODUCTION - KENYA STUDY

Following the ILO mission to Kenya Oil ~J?.L'{~~.':c,."J;,£Q,m"''!,;~..~I}Q._~J.j1~S''.~li1x.

in Kenya (1972) theze has been subs~~.::.c.rJ·~i,""l ir..i...':.::ccst. in KenyaIs informal sector.

This interest and the subsequent data collected ha s been decidedly male oriented"

The is l i t t l e effort to break down the dat,a to show th"! diff.erential effect by sex. This is despite the observation by Cil'~ of !~~:!nya ~r) Develc?ment Plans (1984-- 1988 , 9) that

to...

Female representation in modern sector wage emp.Loyr-en L has remained low v despite a rising trend. The pcrce~tag~ of wo:nen in t.ot.eL modern sector wage employment was 12:02 in 1~62r r:i.3ing tc 14,8 in 1972 and to lEL,O in 1981(1

However~ with rapid population grcw~h, i~craar.ing scarcity of land for cultivation, growing migraticn of women i.n th't~ GdlJ.~)ational system,.the percentege of unempl.oyment, among job seekers in the mederr;. sector has been higher among women than. ~ong menQ

From this offi.c.~al stat~ment, i t se~!n:l z-eesonab.l.e to conc l.ude t'i.i.?t ri'orc Kenyan women are seekingwage-earnlng oppo.rt unt t.Le s and self-employment in the informal sector than men, Offi.c La L and non-official ~tatistics Ol::' Kenyai s informal sector is particularly acute when it; comes to wonen ant:;epr~met:.rs.. This gap is especially striking in light of lItO's (Ibid xii) report t.hat; I'it was soon obvi.ous that a great deal of material on the ernploymer.t situation .ill I:cr~ya~ already, existed, ....n Sixteen years later, additional datil. to "this great d aa L of rcat.e.r La L on the employment situation in Kenya" ha s yet t.o be dis3.ggregated in o rde r , A to show the magnitude and the plight of ",'omen seeking l.y'age and self emp.Loyment; beth in rural and urban sectors of the Kenyan economy ..

II THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR

Casual observation Guggests that theru are more women operating in the informal sector than men. The reasons for vomcn '.; 5. ..:;,>:.~.'::'::1ance in this arBh are easy to understand. ,Despite data to the corrt rerv . 1.~ is t!{id€:ly document.ed and d.ccepted that capital and skill largely dictate the poi rrc of entry", Those with· the leust.

of these two factors (the majority of int:c~al sector par·cici.pant.s) domd ne.t e the bottom rung of the informal sector in practically ali df,veloping count r-t.•;s.. :?or historical and structural reasons, the::.-e is a preponderance of ~w\,;.men at ~.:he tail end of the informal sector.

a fact that whenever there i.s an ccononu c czi nf s , won-.e.'] ::;11fful They are the firs·c to be- fir~:d since, arnonq othel~ things.- they

be hd r-ed , 'rho x-epoz-t; f~~~t.],i!:lj:i1g to Kenya by ILO/JJ-..SPA 1986 It is also

more than men.

were the last to 16 bears this out ..

The report asserts !

" •• "When the economy began to corrt.z-act; prior tc 2..18. du r i.riq the {Jost.- 1979 recession, women appear to have Enif2.~,::::·(t dd epz-coor-t.Lcna-ceLy moxe t:':'an men in relation to emploY;:lle:-i.t ~. if cno 1.cok~'" at the diffcrenc,;! fyom one period to the next, in the, percer..t change of p.-::rsons engaged:- i t bacontes c:::vi('lus that the decline i$ much grp'1"':e:,:, :tor \lOl.K'm ':':h,~n fa,:" !it·an" F()r oxc.mple, among all cectors in the fir::;&:. tv-IC psricds 'che pCl.'ccnt change in. pozsons

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engaged among men fell from 31.2 to percentage points, while among women i t a difference of 46.1 percentage points.

time periods for all sectors ••• "

19.2 percent, a fell from 80.6

This trend is

difference of 12 to 34.5 per cent, observable in "XI,

It is customary in discussions on the informal sector to dichotomize the sector into lithe community of the poor" and the "intermediate sector". Livingstone (1986 51) sees lithe community of the pooz " as " e mbracing urban d.wellers engaged in a variety of marginal activities offering no more than the barest means of maintaining themselves in the city ••• '

"Intermediate sector", on the other hand is perceived as

I...

a dynamic link

to sustained growth, through the generally neglected demand side ••• a sound basis for self-sustained growth, on the assumption that the intermediate sector produces lower-quality goods that the lower income population can afford ••• (Steel 19t27,28).

liThe intermediate informal sector" is also said to be characterized by ••• small scale manufacturing Firms that are typically small but provide a better than average income... The rate of return on invested capital exceeds that of the modern sector ~

by a substantial margin ••• both the capital output and the capital labour ratios are low •••

This dichotomy is particularly useful in establishing the women'5 locational position in the informal sector. And also in explaining, to a large extent, the dearth of information on women's operations. For example, most of the data collected on the informal sector in Kenya has been on 'the intermediate sector', which, according to the development literature on the sector, is seen as having the greatest development potential since i t is said to be more innovative, dynamic, productive etc. It is the "intermediate scct.or " component of the informal sector that has the greatest probability of being integrated or absorbed into the formal economic framework. This sector is, characterized by small scale ma nuf ac t.u r Lnq enterprises where capital accurnmulation is possible (House 1978) as a result of competitive advantage and/or superior business acumen ••• I (Friedman and Sullivan 1974:

394). These enterprises are also relatively skill intensive and require larger amounts of capital than those in "the community of the poor". Such enterprises include, among others, wood processing, textile and leather, work metal fabricating, construction, garage, radio, watch and T.V. repairs, transport and t.he like - i n short, "the outputs of more specialised producers (Hunt, 1983: lOl. The number of Kenyan women owning or employed in such informal sector enterprises is all but insignificant. For example, the House (1978 : 17) survey of Nairobi's informal sector covered "A total of 578 heads of enterprises of which" only 37 women or 6.4 percent were found in the sample of business heads. He adds that the- vast majority of side-walk hawkers of vegetables are women, but these petty traders were eXCluded from the survey'.

Substantial data on West Africa's informal sector indicates that petty trading, which constitutes the bulk of informal sector activities; is dominated by women.

For example, in reviewing data on rural non-farm activities; in Western Nigeria, Liedho1m (1973 : 5) reports that the "trading" and' "industrial" activities in this particular areas, however, were importantly differentiated by sex. Indeed, 88 percent of the "traders" were women while 86 percent of the "industrial" workers were men'. Even though Liedho1m cautions that such high differentiation of activity by sex may not be ubiquitous in Africa, we still feel safe to argue, from the

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existing data (albeit scanty), theretical assumptions, and personal observations, that there is a preponderance of women in petty trading and in all other informal sector activities requiring low skill and low capital for investment. Shoe-shining and a few others are excepted but the bulk of women are concentrated in what is now called micro busines!?~s_.an.d micro .enterprises in contrast to small-scale enterprises and small-scale industries and busnesses.

In a major informal sector survey by ILO/JASPA (1986) covering three ·of··olne

~Kenyat~ biggest urban centres, i.e. Nairobi, Kisurnu and Mombasa, women again feature only marginally. This survey covered 478 informal enterprises with· a .total labour force of 1,499 persons of which 5.7 per cent were women. The report argues that.

These type of activities covered in the survey probably explains why the majority of the entrepreneurs, 94.3 per cent were men, though a large proportion of women were found in the service activities. The survey did not cover the type of informal activities where women play a dominant rol., i.e. hawkers, street vendor and personal services.

In Nairobi, 7.6 per cent of the entrepreneurs were females and their share in the service sector was as high as 25.9 per cent. Unlike Nairobi, Kisumu had no female participants at all while their participation in informal activities in Mombasa was only 3.9 per cent and 19 and 20 respectively.

The report cites cultural and religious factors (p.20) to explain further the absence and the tremendously low representation of women in the survey. This is curious since on page 19'it

is

indicated that women -'were, a priori, excluded from the survey "by the type of activities covered". I would argue, on the contrary, that methodology, rather than religion and culture, is·· the single most···importilrit explanatpry0 :i'actor .for the marginality of women in this rather major survey on Kenya's informal sector employment. This methodological predilection which excludes female participants in informal sector activities characterizes most of the research carried out on this SUbject.

A further example of a methodological orientation which ensures the exclusion or .relatiYe.. u"der-representati".l}. of women in the informal sector is provided by a recent and fairly major survey of "The Rural Informal Sector in Kenya" by Ng'ethe and Wahome (1987). Women, however fare much better in that survey, as shown by the table below, than in most. But, as is true of practically all other studies, throughout this report, there is no serious attempt to disaggregate the data in order to indicate, for example, the women's demographic profiles, sources and levels of capital, access to infrastructural facilities, control and use of r esources , familial .and extra familial financial responsibilities, type of constraints to entry, expansion of business and so on.

For example JASPA/ILO (1986) House (1978) Ngethe and Wahomc (1987), allen (1977) and the JASPA/ILO Regional Seminar on Employment in the Informal Sector in Kenya, held in Nairobi in November 4-8 (1985) to mention only a few.

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Table I

Distribution of Ownership by Sex

Sex Nyeri Meru Uasin-Gishu

-

Male 71.1 78.8 66.0

Female 28.9 21.2 34.0

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0

N 90 99 103

Source : Ng'ethe and Wahome (1987) ,

Siaya 52.5 47.5 100.0 160

As can be seen from the previous ownership by sex shows that in all the are owned',by men".

table, "The distribution of enterprises districts the majority of the businesses

Further on, the authors attempt to ·disaggregate the data by presenting a distribution of labour force by sex and activity as follows.

Table II

Distribution of Labour £'2££.e by S!UL~Activity

Sex Male Female Total Source

Activity Manufacturing 12.7 2.6 15.3

Trade 37.1 36.1 73.2

Percentages Services

10.8 0.4 11.2

Totals 60.6 39.1 99.7

In accounting for the relative marginality for women, the authors argue that

"The reason for this low representation of women in the manufacturing and services Bub-sector is that these sub-sectors are ~ore difficult to enter relative to trade.

We would also like to note that the n'ature':0£ activities that are covered by manufacturing and services are traditionallyrnale oriented, for e xamp Le , car and bicycle repairs, tinsmith and blacksmith" (Loc. cit.63).

A. some Specific Data on Kenyan Women in the Informal Sector

While the reasons for marginality of women to analyses on informal sectors have already been pointed out, t*o other factors are important. The first has to do with conceptualising (in official policy instruments)· and treating issues concerned with women as welfare problems because their activities are frequently defined as unproductive and domestic centred. The second factor related to the first, has to do with indiscriminate use conceptual schemes which characterize all women as dependent on men when discussing household fiances and domestic expenditure. This orientation continues unabated despite massive data to the contrary.

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For example, studies indicate that a significant number of rural and urban housholds in Africa are headed by women. For example, in 1978 the Kenya Bureau of Statistics reported that about 23 per cent of households in rural areas were headed by women. Thise data admits undercounting since they exclude pastoral and large farm areas.

Table III

Percentage Distribution of Heads of Household by Sex and Province

Province Male Female Total

Central Coast Eastern Nyanza Rift Valley Western

77 73 73 75 78 81

23 27 23 25

~2

19

100

100 Excludes Pastoral and large farm areaS.

Source: Integrated Rural Survey 1974-1975 B. Women Petty Traders in Nairobi

First, a major study by Adagala and Bifani (1985), reveals a number of important problem areas for petty women traders in Nairobi. "While ·women tend to concentrate in trade and service·'activities, men tend to undertake a transformation process and create small industries in the context of small scale, labour intensive and low profile skill enterprises which characterize the "informal" sector" (Ibid : 4) as these authors point out, this differentiation has the effect of intensifying marginalisation of women in a sector that is already seriously marginalised.

This study also gives a detailed account of women's perceptions of their lives as petty traders and as peri-urbanites. A lengthy discussion of the very mapy issues by this report cannot be undertaken here, but what follows is brief summary of what we consider to be some of the major points raised by the study.

c. Demographic Information on the Women Interviewed

Adagala and Bifani found that '(1) the average number of children per woman was 3.22 which was lower than the average number of children per woman in their rural sample, and also for the national average. (2) That the bulk of women interviewed were in their reproductive age. (i.e. between 15-44 years) which, as we shall see later, has implications for their trading activiti<>s • ., (3) 'fifty per cent of the women were married, 31 single, 10 per cent were widowed and 6 p<l'r cent divorced. (4) That 78 per G!"nt of the women, for whom the .. researehers had information, were."JIIigrants. Only 4 per cent were born in Nairob.i--and a further 25 per cent did notactually live in Nairobi and a fUJ;"j:J1e;::between their rural villages and the city. (5) In terms of educational achievement, 20 per cent of

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the women had never been to school, 14 per cent had some primary education, 38 per cent had completed secondary and none of the respondents had any post secondary education. According to the authors, these women on the average had more education than rural women in our sample lI(Ibid .•

a).

According to this study and casual observations, the women's working conditions are usually perilous in that many of them work in small temporary and makeshift locations, on side walks and open air

1I.

In addition, these women traders are perennially sUbjected to official harrassment since the temporary structures from which they operate (street trading and hawking etc) are officially defined as illegal.

Thus, the precariousness and the insecure nature of .tha,i·r working' 'conlUtions .ill .. so .evident ·toresearchers and lay observers alike that i t does not repuire extensive documentation. In short, ·women in the informal· . sector work"under'the .most. trying. oonditons'withOut basic services such as portable water and sanitation nor health facilities, most have no skill and training and have no secure .access to production reSources (UNECA • ATRCW, 1988 • 7).

D. Women Combine Several Subsistence Activities

We have seen that, women participants in the infonna·l sector' preponderate

..:I.n .. the .-s-ubsector (the community of the poor) which has little or no probability of capital accumulation and consequently lacks • ••• the capacity to generate an independent growth dynamic· (Hunt, 1983 • 8).

As Mintz (1971 25) points out, even in West Africa where market trading is excellently developed, •••• the percentage of total economic activity reprensented by market place trade is declining ••• even while' market places themselves continue to grow... it is conceivable that the expansion of economic opportunities within the internal market system can occur in ways and at rates that lag behind the growth of other economic opportunities in the same society".

Thus, to deal with their all too frequently penurious circumstances, women adopt several survival strategies which inevitably entail a simultaneous combination of several subsistence income-generating activities. For example, a woman trader may reserve a few days in the month for private farming (Adagala and Bifani, loco cit.271. Or a woman may in addition to private farming and trading, hire out her labour to a neighbouring farm (Browne, 1975. 12), and sometimes brew beer in the evenings (We know this from our own investigations), to augment the family income.

The latter activity (beer brewing) is illegal. Clandestine activities' by informal sector operators, in their at:tempt to.... cope with urban intimidating economic conditions are widely reported in the literature on informal sector. This explains why the sector has sometimes been associated with illegal activities.

1I

In popular local parlance, open air markets and workshops are referred to as Jua Kali, which is translated to mean hot sun. But,~, in Swahili also means dangerous as when you talk of Mbwa (dog) Kali. Interestingly, also, the concept of Jua Kali is now widely in Kenya to refer to the informal sector.

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Page 13

Be that as it may, the important point to remember, is that all these activities may be by the same women, are in addition to her domestic responsibilities, such as cooking, minding the children, searching for water and energy, and the like.

Undoubtedly, all these must place a severe burden on the poor rural and urban women, as is forcefully demonstrated in numerous studies dealing with the issue of how women strive to combine reproductive and productive functions.

E. Women Traders' Views of Formal Sectors

It is clear in the study under discussion, and other reports, that women blame their economic insecurity and poverty on the failure of the formal sector to generate sufficient employment for both men and women. In sum, "unemployment is the reason the majority of petty traders give for engaging in this activity. As an activity i t is seen as a last resort, after one cannot possibly get any type of employment"

(Adagala and 9ifani, 1985-34).

These women also refer to the failure of the government to provide a harrassment free atmosphere for work (p , 37), while the lack of a suitable and fixed location to carryon with the trade is seen as effecting the business itself (p.68). Lack of access to institutional and government facilities for loans (p.64) is another problem. Also inadequate governmental intervention in the provision of the various infra structural facilities such as housing (p.85), education, transport, health, and the like, are perceived as intensifying the insecurity of the urban existence.

The corrupt behaviour of some city council officials too, is seen by the women, as exacerbating an already iritolerable situation. This, according to the respondent, is particularly true when the city council "... only asks for bribes and high taxes reflecting the feeling of the petty traders that the formal structure considers them peripheral to the general development ••• " (p.87).

Unlike the West African womert, who have been traders for centuries, East African women (especially the ones under discussion) are farmers par excellence. Thus, lack of access to land or fragmentary or diminishing holdings is frequently cited by many women as one of the push factors in the migratory process and the search for greener pastures. In short, "land poverty - that is the small size of their land - is for the majority of these petty traders the main problem".

The problem is particularly acute among the childless, the divorced, the single and some widowed women, especially if they do not have male heirs. This is because

"land holdings in Kenya is to a large extent still determined by principles of customary law according to which women, generally speaking do not own land". Rights to land can only remain extant n • • • as long as they (the women) remain associated with their kin based families of origin and/or procreation" (Pala, 1975 : 8). In other words, the Kenyan (and this is true of most Africa) land tenure system and the patrilineally centred inheritance patterns dictate that women can only have access to land through their male relatives first through the father or the brother, and sUbsequently through the husband's lineage after marriage.

This in turn has tremendous implications for women's autonomy, food production and security of many families. The extr~me pressure on the productive land in Kenya means that many women are stripped of the only traditional means of sustenance as well as a place in which to build a shelter for themselves and their families.

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