Women's work in the informal sector

About this book

This article examines women's occupational careers and socioeconomic adjustment in Lusaka, Zambia, an area marked by high rates of urban migration and restricted opportunities for formal employment among women. The exclusion of women by virtue of education and opportunity from the urban wage labor force has resulted in the creation of alternative occupational options in the informal sector, including self-employment as petty traders, craft producers, and small entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial activities initiated by unemployed squatter women in the city are usually intended to fulfill economic needs on a temporary basis and reflect a pattern of commercialization of "traditional" skills. An in-depth analysis of these women's socioeconomic adaptations in the Zambian case suggests an important conceptual link between urban and rural development processes and emphasizes the necessity for policy planning that takes into account the short-term entrepreneurial options that migrant women generate in the urban context.