African Women 
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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Women and the Changing Urban Household Economy in Tanzania |
| Author: | Tripp, Aili M. |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
| Volume: | 27 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Period: | December |
| Pages: | 601-623 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Tanzania |
| Subjects: | informal sector women women's work Politics and Government Development and Technology Economics and Trade Women's Issues economics Labor and Employment Sex Roles urbanization Status of Women |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/161111 |
| Abstract: | Women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, used to be described as 'relatively inactive' as regards paid work or self-employment. The economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s and the resulting decline in the living standards of many urban families forced women to seek alternate sources of income. No longer content to be merely passive victims of the hardships wrought by the formal economy's virtual disintegration, many women actively pioneered solutions to their financial difficulties which had a significant impact on important aspects of Tanzanian society. Women's enterprises ranged from crop cultivation and animal husbandry, sewing, food vending, shoemaking, and carpentry, to hairdressing and other services. As part of the informal economy these activities were subject to regulations, and yet they were able to avoid governmental controls. This article offers an analysis of women's growing involvement in the urban informal economy, drawing upon research carried out in Dar es Salaam in 1987-1988. It examines the impact of the increased generation of household earnings on the lives of all those concerned, discusses differences across gender and income groups with respect to the changes that are taking place, and shows how the new economic role of women has given them greater decisionmaking leverage and independence. Ref. |
