Exploring Livelihoods of Urban Women Traders in the Context of Socio-Economic And Political Crisis: Evidence From Harare, Zimbabwe

α
Takunda J Chirau
Takunda J Chirau
α Rhodes University Rhodes University

Send Message

To: Author

Exploring Livelihoods of Urban Women Traders in the Context of Socio-Economic And Political Crisis: Evidence From Harare, Zimbabwe

Article Fingerprint

ReserarchID

O8525

Exploring Livelihoods of Urban Women Traders in the Context of Socio-Economic And Political Crisis: Evidence From Harare, Zimbabwe Banner

AI TAKEAWAY

Connecting with the Eternal Ground
  • English
  • Afrikaans
  • Albanian
  • Amharic
  • Arabic
  • Armenian
  • Azerbaijani
  • Basque
  • Belarusian
  • Bengali
  • Bosnian
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Cebuano
  • Chichewa
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • Corsican
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • Esperanto
  • Estonian
  • Filipino
  • Finnish
  • French
  • Frisian
  • Galician
  • Georgian
  • German
  • Greek
  • Gujarati
  • Haitian Creole
  • Hausa
  • Hawaiian
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Hmong
  • Hungarian
  • Icelandic
  • Igbo
  • Indonesian
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Javanese
  • Kannada
  • Kazakh
  • Khmer
  • Korean
  • Kurdish (Kurmanji)
  • Kyrgyz
  • Lao
  • Latin
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Luxembourgish
  • Macedonian
  • Malagasy
  • Malay
  • Malayalam
  • Maltese
  • Maori
  • Marathi
  • Mongolian
  • Myanmar (Burmese)
  • Nepali
  • Norwegian
  • Pashto
  • Persian
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Punjabi
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Samoan
  • Scots Gaelic
  • Serbian
  • Sesotho
  • Shona
  • Sindhi
  • Sinhala
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Sundanese
  • Swahili
  • Swedish
  • Tajik
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian
  • Urdu
  • Uzbek
  • Vietnamese
  • Welsh
  • Xhosa
  • Yiddish
  • Yoruba
  • Zulu

Abstract

The Zimbabwean crisis has involved massive downsizing of the economy and high rate of unemployment levels particularly in urban areas. Urban life has become increasingly unbearable for many poor urban households. Consequently, informal economic activities have blossomed and are making significant contributions to household income and livelihoods. The role of women in the informal economy is particularly pronounced. This paper examines the livelihood strategies and sources of income for women traders at Magaba. The empirical findings identified and unpacked diverse livelihood activities and strategies and the resources (or assets) that women deploy in constructing urban livelihoods. Though their livelihood portfolios complement any earnings from formal employment by household members and though they contribute to their household’s sustenance, there are a number of daily challenges which they face in their trading activities and which they seek to counteract through a range of often ingenious coping mechanisms. These findings were projected through a genre of qualitative and quantitative techniques. (Sustainable livelihoods, livelihoods, livelihood strategies, coping mechanisms).

References

31 Cites in Article
  1. J Chipika,S Chibanda,P,G Kadenge (2000). Effects of Structural Adjustment in Southern Africa: The Case of Zimbabwe's Manufacturing Sector during Phase 1 of ESAP: 1991-1995.
  2. G Mhone (1995). The Impact of Structural Adjustment on the Urban Informal Sector in Zimbabwe.
  3. Opev (1997). Zimbabwe Economic Structural Adjustment Programme Project Performance Evaluation Report.
  4. H Tamukamoyo (2009). Survival in a Collapsing Economy: A Case Study of Informal Trading at a Zimbabwean Flea Market.
  5. A Kamete (2004). Home Industries and the Formal City in Harare, Zimbabwe.
  6. J Maclean (2002). Mugabe at War: The Political Economy of Conflict in Zimbabwe.
  7. R Mupedziswa,P Gumbo (2001). Women Informal Traders in Harare and the Struggle for Survival in an Environment of Economic Reforms.
  8. M Tekere (2001). Trade Liberalisation under Structural Economic Adjustment: Impact on Social Welfare in Zimbabwe: Paper for the Poverty Reduction Forum (PRF): Structural Adjustment Program Review Initiative (SAPRI) Zimbabwe.
  9. M Vambe (2008). The Hidden Dimensions of Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe.
  10. A Tibaijuka (2005). Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to Assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina by the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe.
  11. Michael Bratton,Eldred Masunungure (2006). Popular Reactions to State Repression: Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe.
  12. V,N Muzvidziwa (2000). Food vending: adaptation under difficult circumstances.
  13. D Dube,I Chirisa (2012). The Informal City: Assessing its Scope, Variants and Direction in Harare, Zimbabwe.
  14. R Mupedziswa,P Gumbo (1998). Structural Adjustment and Women Informal Sector Traders in Harare, Zimbabwe.
  15. B Raftopoulos,A Mlambo (2010). The Regional Dimensions of Zimbabwe's Multi-layered crisis: An Analysis.
  16. J Rouse,M Ali (2000). Waste pickers: using the sustainable livelihoods approach in Dhaka.
  17. I Scoones (1998). Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: A Framework for Analysis.
  18. (2002). Urban Livelihoods: A People Centred Approach to Reducing Poverty.
  19. V Brand (1986). One Dollar Workplaces: A Study of Informal Sector Activities in Magaba, Harare.
  20. N Bennett,R Glatter,R,Levacic (1994). Improving Educational Management through Research and Consultancy.
  21. Rosemary Deem (2002). Talking to Manager-Academics.
  22. M Mcpherson (1998). Zimbabwe: A Third Nationwide Survey of Micro and Small Enterprises, Growth and Equity through Microenterprise Investments and Institutions.
  23. S Bracking,L Sachikonye (2006). Remittances, Poverty and the Informalisation of Household Wellbeing in Zimbabwe.
  24. C Sander,S Maimbo (2003). Migrant Labor Remittances in Africa: Reducing Obstacles to Developmental Contributions Africa Region.
  25. Susan Kutiwa,Emmanuel Boon,Dimitri Devuyst (2010). Urban Agriculture in Low Income Households of Harare: An Adaptive Response to Economic Crisis.
  26. Takunda Chirau,P Chamuka (2013). Livelihood strategies of urban women.
  27. V Muzvidziwa (1997). Rural-Urban Linkages: Masvingo's Double -Rooted Female Heads of Households.
  28. A Schlyter (1990). Women in Harare: Gender aspects of urban-rural interaction.
  29. I Banda (2010). Zimbabwe: Informal Sector Lures University Graduates.
  30. Peberdy (2002). Hurdles to trade? South Africa's Immigration Policy and Informal Sector Cross-Border Traders in SADC.
  31. G Mhone (1993). The Impact of Structural Adjustment on the Urban Informal Sector in Zimbabwe.

Funding

No external funding was declared for this work.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

No ethics committee approval was required for this article type.

Data Availability

Not applicable for this article.

How to Cite This Article

Takunda J Chirau. 2014. \u201cExploring Livelihoods of Urban Women Traders in the Context of Socio-Economic And Political Crisis: Evidence From Harare, Zimbabwe\u201d. Global Journal of Human-Social Science - E: Economics GJHSS-E Volume 14 (GJHSS Volume 14 Issue E1): .

Download Citation

Issue Cover
GJHSS Volume 14 Issue E1
Pg. 77- 94
Journal Specifications

Crossref Journal DOI 10.17406/GJHSS

Print ISSN 0975-587X

e-ISSN 2249-460X

Keywords
Version of record

v1.2

Issue date

March 25, 2014

Language
en
Experiance in AR

Explore published articles in an immersive Augmented Reality environment. Our platform converts research papers into interactive 3D books, allowing readers to view and interact with content using AR and VR compatible devices.

Read in 3D

Your published article is automatically converted into a realistic 3D book. Flip through pages and read research papers in a more engaging and interactive format.

Article Matrices
Total Views: 4970
Total Downloads: 2519
2026 Trends
Related Research

Published Article

The Zimbabwean crisis has involved massive downsizing of the economy and high rate of unemployment levels particularly in urban areas. Urban life has become increasingly unbearable for many poor urban households. Consequently, informal economic activities have blossomed and are making significant contributions to household income and livelihoods. The role of women in the informal economy is particularly pronounced. This paper examines the livelihood strategies and sources of income for women traders at Magaba. The empirical findings identified and unpacked diverse livelihood activities and strategies and the resources (or assets) that women deploy in constructing urban livelihoods. Though their livelihood portfolios complement any earnings from formal employment by household members and though they contribute to their household’s sustenance, there are a number of daily challenges which they face in their trading activities and which they seek to counteract through a range of often ingenious coping mechanisms. These findings were projected through a genre of qualitative and quantitative techniques. (Sustainable livelihoods, livelihoods, livelihood strategies, coping mechanisms).

Our website is actively being updated, and changes may occur frequently. Please clear your browser cache if needed. For feedback or error reporting, please email [email protected]

Request Access

Please fill out the form below to request access to this research paper. Your request will be reviewed by the editorial or author team.
X

Quote and Order Details

Contact Person

Invoice Address

Notes or Comments

This is the heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

High-quality academic research articles on global topics and journals.

Exploring Livelihoods of Urban Women Traders in the Context of Socio-Economic And Political Crisis: Evidence From Harare, Zimbabwe

Takunda J Chirau
Takunda J Chirau

Research Journals