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The 'silent revolution'?: the feminization of the labour force and gender dynamics in Africa
Short Abstract:
In Africa, economic crisis has led to a 'feminization of survival' where responsibilities for dealing with poverty increasing rely on women's shoulders. This panel seeks to explore intensification of female labor force participation and its impact on gender and intra-household dynamics.
Long Abstract:
In several African countries, especially in West Africa, women have a long tradition of involvement in independent market activities. While women's labor force participation, especially in the informal sector of the economy, is nothing new in many parts of the continent, scattered evidence suggest that the dynamics of female employment has been changing since the 1990s. The prolonged economic crisis and structural adjustment have strongly affected women's labor force participation. In cities, increasing cost of living, male unemployment and decreasing real income of household heads have forced wives and daughters to multiply their economic activities within the informal sector. The growing contribution of women's to household income is often going far beyond supplementing for small daily expenditures and, in several cases, women have become the sole or primary breadwinner within the family. The 'feminization of survival' where responsibilities for dealing with poverty increasing rely on women's shoulders is also visible in the intensification of female labor migration both within and outside African countries since the 1990s. While the feminization of labor force participation is often believed to have led to a 'silent revolution' within households its actual impact on gender and intra-household dynamics remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this panel is to contribute to fill this research gap.
Accepted papers:
Session 1
The informal/casual labour market in a Nigerian city: an analysis of gender and household
Emmanuella Onyenechere
(Imo State University)
Paper short abstract:
This study determines the nature of gender relations and the working conditions of men and women in the informal/casual labour markets of Owerri, South East Nigeria. It found strong evidence of male dominance on the supply and demand sides and of skewed gender relationships against women.
Paper long abstract:
This study determines the gender and age composition, the nature of gender relations, and the working conditions of men and women in the informal/casual labour markets of Owerri, South East Nigeria. The main findings are (a) there is strong evidence of male dominance on the supply and demand sides and of skewed gender relationships against women in the market, (b) mature men and women (age 44-54) have relatively more access, (c) gender stereotype in participation - "male dominance" in construction and cargo handling and "female dominance" in cleaning and in farming/food processing prevail, (d) the work environment for the casual labourers is highly precarious and, symmetrically skewed in favour of employers, (e) the jobs do not meet ILO benchmark for decent jobs, and (f) among the women, time demands is causal to work-family conflict occurrence especially for those aged 35-44. Due to the long hours of work (on the average 7-12 hours) associated with casual labour daily, the combination of work - family life is a major issue for women in most sub-types of casual labour who belong to dual earner households. The paper thus concludes that the casual labour markets as it is cannot help Nigeria attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. It is important that a rethinking of the state and social policy takes place to reverse the socio-economic forces that compel women and men to agglomerate at junctions in the early morning casual labour markets and make some women's working hours to be abnormal.
Feminization of the labour force as a response to neoliberal economic policies: a case study of the Nigerian informal sector
Chetan Tokas
(Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper inquires the feminization of labour force in informal sector of Nigerian economy after the fractured application of structural adjustment programme. Family survival strategies have depended more on women engaged in informal sector rather than on neoliberal economic policies.
Paper long abstract:
Breakdown of socio-cultural, economic and political boundaries of countries demonstrated by the process of globalization in a multipolar world has also demonstrated consequences deep down in the familial relationships. For a predominantly agricultural economy like Nigeria; where agriculture provides employment to almost 70% of the population, changes thus transpired in the labour force are typical of a missing stage of "Precondition for take off" (Walt W. Rostow, 1962) for an economy. Already shocked by petroleum crisis in late 1970s, inefficient application of Structural Adjustment Programme in 1980s became a burden on Nigerian economy. Women engaged in the informal sector however have emerged as a strong societal and familial response to the fractured economic policy. In Nigeria, 2006 Census declared 76 percent of the total employed women as engaged in informal sector primarily as sales workers, craft and production workers assisting their families as only source of survival. Women, who are considered to be second class citizens even in the Fourth Republic of Nigeria, have been able to sustain families both in rural and urban cities utilizing their unskilled labour in petty trading, handicraft, vocational enterprises, agro processing, artisanal fishing, street trading, waste collection and home based enterprises. Extended female headed household and family survival strategies thus have become instrumental after the feminization of labour force in the informal sector of Nigerian economy. Women support groups and networks are some of the strong feminist responses (for survival) to neoliberal economic policies in Nigeria such as NEEDS and SEEDS.
Coping with change: the dynamics of women's work in urban Mozambique
Margareta Espling
(University of Gothenburg)
Paper short abstract:
This paper draws on longitudinal data from two cities in Mozambique to explore the dynamics of women’s work and how they cope with on-going change. The findings, from interviews with the same women in 1996 and 2010/11, particularly illustrate the effects of aging and changing household composition.
Paper long abstract:
This paper draws on a longitudinal study of urban women's ways of making a living in Mozambique and aims to understand the dynamics of women's work to cope with change.
Everyday activities and strategies of women (and men) in particular places must be related to wider contexts of social and economic changes. In this article, a livelihoods framework is applied within a theoretical perspective of critical political geography combined with an actor-oriented gender approach: gendered agency informs and shapes the individual and collective strategies of everyday politics in particular places.
Inspired by Whitehead's article Tracking Livelihood Change, I have revisited women in the two largest cities in Mozambique, whom I had first interviewed in 1996. At the time of the first set of interviews the focus was on women's efforts of making a living in a post-conflict situation of economic crisis and political transformation. Since then, with policies of market liberalisation and privatisation in a context of relative political stability, Mozambique has experienced remarkable economic recovery; during this period of time the women have been struggling to cope with the effects of that recovery.
This longitudinal study enables an exploration of inter-generational aspects of livelihoods and the findings shed particular light on the role of ageing and changing household composition as determinants of how women cope with social and economic change.
Engagement des femmes dans les associations féminines de microcrédit au Sénégal : entre recherche de ressources financières et développement de l'économie informelle
Aminata Sall-Camara
(Université paris descartes )
Paper short abstract:
Les conséquences économiques de la crise et des PAS ont amené progressivement les femmes à trouver des activités informelles de survie par le biais des financements du microcrédit associatifs pour prendre des charges économiques dans le foyer, indispensable pour la survie quotidienne du ménage.
Paper long abstract:
Les activités économiques informelles développées à travers les financements de microcrédit jouent un rôle déterminant pour assurer la survie des familles suite à la fragilité et aux difficultés économique de nos Etats. L'engagement des femmes s'inscrit ainsi dans une logique de lutte contre la pauvreté et de recherche de ressources financières.Les conséquences économiques de la crise et des PAS ont amené progressivement les femmes à trouver des activités informelles de survie par le biais des financements du microcrédit pour prendre des charges économiques dans le foyer, indispensable pour la survie quotidienne du ménage. Les femmes chefs de ménages constitueraient de nouveaux types de ménage dont l'émergence traduirait la crise économique et l'échec des PAS, des arrangements matrimoniaux et de l'incapacité ou l'irresponsabilité des maris. A partir d'une étude de cas réalisée auprès de deux associations de microcrédit, nous avons tenté de comprendre comment le microcrédit permet aux femmes de renforcer leur pouvoir économique et social à travers les activités de l'économie informelle.
Being in charge: Muslim women's roles in Kankan (Guinea)
Carole Ammann
(ETH Zurich)
Paper short abstract:
In Muslim Kankan (Guinea) many households depend partly or entirely on female income activities. This stands in harsh contrast to propagated gender roles. This paper analyses the subsequent impact on women's negotiating power in polygamous households.
Paper long abstract:
In urban Muslim Kankan, Guinea's second largest city, the man as head of house is - according to popular perception - supposed to be the breadwinner of the family. Women's domain on the other hand is at home where they are in charge of their children and all household activities. However, in a place where basic infrastructure is not available for most of the population and secured employment is rare, daily realities show a different picture: Nowadays many households depend partly or entirely on female income activities.
This stands in contrast to public opinion of gender division according to religious and "customary" norms. Officially, the image of the man who is in charge of the family and who takes all decisions is upheld. Nevertheless, more and more men - aware of economic hardship - encourage their wife/wives or girlfriend(s) to launch commercial activities or to learn a proper profession.
From a social anthropological perspective this paper analyses the resulting impact on gender roles and intra-household dynamics. In Kankan, the changes on the economic level did not automatically lead to an increase of women's bargaining-power vis-à-vis their husbands. Gender dynamics within a household depend more on the educational and family background, the age of marriage and the number of a man's wives than on who the breadwinner of the family is. However, increased economic independence is seen by women as a way to diminish their matrimonial problems. This may improve their position in a competing polygamous environment.
Housewife and trader? Changing relations between marital status and livelihood in an Ethiopian town
Gunilla Bjerén
(Stockholm University)
Paper short abstract:
The relation between marital status and livelihoods in Shashemene, Ethiopia is studied through retrospective life event histories 1973-2008 that covers livelihood "careers", migration paths and marital and reproductive events. There are more livelihood opportunities, still in the informal sector.
Paper long abstract:
This paper deals with the livelihood opportunities that present themselves to women from different cohorts and origins during the life course, and how they relate to the women's marital and reproductive histories. The paper is based on data from the town of Shashemene, 250 km South of Addis Abeba in Ethiopia. Two comparable random sample surveys of households were collected in 1973 and in 2008. The data analysed in the paper are life event histories focussing on migration trajectories and livelihood (1973) and on migration, livelihood, and partner and child histories (2008). Heads of household (male and female) and wives of 144 and 350 households were interviewed. Census data from 1994 and 2007 complement the survey data. Life history interviews with a small number of persons facilitate analysis. There is virtually no formal employment of women in neither sample. Like most men women are active in the informal sector. But there is more variation in the livelihoods available to women now than before the revolution and they are better equipped to manage their economic activities with a much higher rate of literacy. Our respondents in 2008 are also more open about their business lives. A general picture in 2008 of slower marital turnover and fewer relations during the life time gives an indication of more stable marital relations and, maybe, a less unequal balance of power
Struggling to survive for two generations: young female economic endeavours and perspectives on gender relations from the outskirts of Bissau
Joana Vasconcelos
(ISCTE-IUL and LEUVEN)
Paper short abstract:
Based on fieldwork in Guinea-Bissau, this paper discuses the feminization of survival and its impacts on gender relations and intra-household dynamics by focusing on the experiences of girls and young women living in a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Bissau.
Paper long abstract:
The "feminization of survival" also affects girls and young women, despite the fact that both gender and youth studies agendas have initially excluded them from analysis. This has been changing since the Nineties, and the economic dynamism of girls and young women in urban contexts has been increasingly analysed, even though how this is affecting gender relations has remained very much in the shadow.
Based on fieldwork in Guinea-Bissau, a country where living conditions have been deteriorating for already two generations, this paper discusses and gives voice to the diversity of situations lived by and to the perspectives of girls and young women living in a peripheric urban neighbourhood of the capital city Bissau. The generational lens will allow me not only to discuss the rationale and strategies of the activities some girls and young women in this neighbourhood engage in, but also their perspectives on gender relations according to their experiences as well as their mothers' and other relatives'.
International aid and gendered roles in agricultural value chains: some reflections from a rural development program in northern Senegal
Cecilia Navarra
(European Parliament)
Cristiano Lanzano
(The Nordic Africa Institute (Uppsala, Sweden))
Paper short abstract:
This paper analyzes some small scale rural development projects targeted to women in northern Senegal: we discuss the risk of standardization of aid interventions on what concerns gender roles in food value chains and some of its consequences.
Paper long abstract:
Overcoming the gender gap in agriculture is nowadays one of the focal points of major international institutions, governments and development agencies. In this paper we discuss some effects of international aid in rural contexts on gender dynamics and women's empowerment. Through the analysis of some small-scale projects in Northern Senegal -implemented within a wide rural development aid program in West Africa- we develop some reflections on the observed women-oriented projects, namely small scale food processing activities. We stress the risk that women end up being "locked" into pre-defined roles in food value chains, and into low-revenue activities by a standardized logic of aid projects. We develop an analysis of the practices that may lead to this outcome, where possible tensions may emerge between the needs of "beneficiaries" and those of the "project", and between the way project is thought and the way it is translated into practice on the field. We more precisely discuss the possible implications of projects aiming at formalizing and "modernizing" home-based women activities. We carry on this analysis by means of a qualitative and interdisciplinary case study, at the crossroad between social anthropology, human geography and development economics.
'It's not easy in Kenya by the way': global economy, local realities and gender dynamics
Egle Cesnulyte
(University of Bristol)
Paper short abstract:
This paper assesses ‘feminization of survival’ through Mombasa sex workers’ life stories. Sex workers’ narratives reveal global and local socio-economic structures affecting Kenyan women, and speak about changing gender power relations in society.
Paper long abstract:
The life stories of Mombasa's sex workers are revealing regarding the structures that define possibilities for women in the Kenyan economy. The majority of women who trade sex are doing so because of poverty. One reason leading to poor living conditions is loss of a breadwinner in a family. Yet, it is important to acknowledge another type of poverty - when women have jobs but still struggle to survive, because of the low income that these jobs bring. The economic problems that affect women have grown as a response to the effects of economic globalization in Kenya.
Patriarchal structures define the possibilities available for women to a great degree. Most of the options for survival and living are defined in relationship to a man; and thus, many sex workers connect sex trade to the poverty that followed the loss of their husbands or fathers (divorce or death). As sex workers rarely belong to a male-headed household, they are no longer under male provision and control. However, despite a woman's supposed independence, they still have their patriarchal responsibilities of family care and the majority of them are heads of female-headed households.
Neo-liberal restructuring made it more difficult for men to take care of their families and presented women with new opportunities in the labour market. This paper will argue that these new realities have challenged traditional gender hierarchies to some extent; however the unequal gender power relations remain, because neo-liberal markets build on existing inequalities.
Gender issues in the suitcase trade: the case study of the "sacoleiras" in São-Paulo
Léa Barreau-Tran
(Les Afriques dans le Monde, Sciences Po Bordeaux)
Paper short abstract:
The feminization of the informal economy and the rise of women's successful trajectories in suitcase trade highlight the growing participation of women in the south-south trade, but it also raise the contradictions between women’s status as mothers and business-women in the current economic crisis.
Paper long abstract:
African business women from Mozambique and Angola export goods from São-Paulo (Brazil) through informal rules and unwritten codes to avoid customs taxes. These female entrepreneurs called « sacoleiras » (backpacker in portuguese) are challenging the traditional informal trade mainly dominated by men and violent negotiations which are taking place in the importation process (Tarrius 2002).
Cross-border female exporters try to avoid this obstacles thanks to a specific knowledge which socially feeds gendered relationships with customs officials. To export hairs, clothes, or electronic goods transported in their suitcases, they mobilize competences and skills that can be understood as a "reversal" of power relationships. This capacity of (re)negociation leads to the feminization of the informal economy while it underlines the rise of women's successful trajectories in the suitcase trade.
However, literature on gender issues within the south-south informal trade highlights the gap between the economic power of women and the women's agency in the household (Falquet 2010, Manry 2006). Thanks to an ethnographical study of female traders in the Bras Township located in the center of São-Paulo, the collection of these life trajectories raises the issue of the contradictions between women's social status as mothers and their role as business-women, both pressured by the current economic competition and the global crisis.This paper explores a more complex understanding of women's economic power which has to be thought right inside their political and economical networks, and through a gender division of informal work and family's roles.
The art of negotiation: gender, identity and female emancipation in transatlantic informal trade on Cape Verde
Tatiana Reis
(Maranhão State University)
Paper short abstract:
The objective of this work is to understand gender dynamics, ressignification process of identities and transatlantic market developed by Cape Verdean women
Paper long abstract:
The objective of this work is to understand gender dynamics, ressignification process of identities and transatlantic market developed by Cape Verdean women. These women have great importance for the local economy and are responsible for selling numerous products marketed in the streets, markets and fairs. The rabidancia is an activity developed more by women then men. The purchase of products takes place in African countries such as Senegal, Guinea and Morocco, and also in France, Holland, USA and Brazil. The development of this work emerged by the need to better understand the experience of women traders in Africa. Therefore, rabidantes is an important economical and social tool for the Cape Verdean area. It is worth to mention that this type of trade is common in other African countries and depending on the context, it receives different names. Indeed, there has been a feminization of the trade "informal". This demonstrates that world of work reproduces gender inequalities. Despite receives significant remuneration, these women continue performing household chores. The possible independence economic not reversed the gender differences, that insist reinforce socially acceptable roles for men and women.