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Accepted Paper:
Informality in Addis Ababa
Ephrem Shiferaw Wolde
Samuel Andreas Admasie
(Labour Movement's Archives and Library and International Institute of Social History)
Paper short abstract:
Looking at the case of domestic workers in Addis Ababa, this paper examines:
-How such workers seek to contest exploitative relations
-What collectivities that they develop to this end, and their relationship with formal sector workers collectivities
-Their relationship to the state
Paper long abstract:
Collective contestation of informal work conditions in Addis Ababa: the case of domestic workers
Despite decades of rapid growth, Addis Ababa is a city in which informal and domestic work far outweighs formal work. A large share of the city's working population work without proper contracts, in conditions unrestrained by even the country's lax regulation of minimum conditions. Moreover, among that part of the population which indeed work under formalized labour contracts, abysmal formal sector wages means that informal additional work and opportunities most frequently constitutes an important aspect of total incomes. Nevertheless, conditions in informal sectors are typically exploitative and harsh. Not the least in sectors where female workers predominate and where the worker encounters the employer or client in isolation - such as in the case of domestic workers. In response, informal sector workers develop coping strategies that range from individual attempts to mitigate or avoid such conditions, to collective attempts to challenge and modify them.
Situating the collective agencies of informal workers within the broader urban political economy, and in their relationship with formal sector workers and the state, this paper aims to examine:
- How informal sector workers seek to avoid or contest exploitative relations.
- What collectivities that informal sectors workers develop to this end, and what their relationship with formal sector workers collectivities are:
- What their relationship to - and the role of - the state is.
We aim to do so by looking specifically at the case of domestic workers.
Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality, and to see the links to virtual rooms. Log in
Accepted Paper:
Paper short abstract:
Paper long abstract:
Collective contestation of informal work conditions in Addis Ababa: the case of domestic workers
Despite decades of rapid growth, Addis Ababa is a city in which informal and domestic work far outweighs formal work. A large share of the city's working population work without proper contracts, in conditions unrestrained by even the country's lax regulation of minimum conditions. Moreover, among that part of the population which indeed work under formalized labour contracts, abysmal formal sector wages means that informal additional work and opportunities most frequently constitutes an important aspect of total incomes. Nevertheless, conditions in informal sectors are typically exploitative and harsh. Not the least in sectors where female workers predominate and where the worker encounters the employer or client in isolation - such as in the case of domestic workers. In response, informal sector workers develop coping strategies that range from individual attempts to mitigate or avoid such conditions, to collective attempts to challenge and modify them.
Situating the collective agencies of informal workers within the broader urban political economy, and in their relationship with formal sector workers and the state, this paper aims to examine:
- How informal sector workers seek to avoid or contest exploitative relations.
- What collectivities that informal sectors workers develop to this end, and what their relationship with formal sector workers collectivities are:
- What their relationship to - and the role of - the state is.
We aim to do so by looking specifically at the case of domestic workers.
Informality: a way of surviving the post-pandemic city?
Session 1 Thursday 7 July, 2022, -