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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Trading in the Midst of Uncertainty: Market Women, Adjustment, and the Prospects for Development in Zimbabwe
Author:Osirim, Mary J.ISNI
Year:1995
Periodical:African Rural and Urban Studies
Volume:2
Issue:1
Pages:43-64
Language:English
Geographic term:Zimbabwe
Subjects:economic policy
market women
women
Labor and Employment
Economics and Trade
Women's Issues
Politics and Government
Development and Technology
economics
urbanization
Abstract:This essay explores the impact of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) enacted in Zimbabwe in 1990 on women market vendors. Based on fieldwork conducted in Harare and Bulawayo during the summer of 1994, the study addresses the current effects of the programme on foodsellers and briefly compares these findings with the results of earlier research conducted among this population in 1991. Rather than delineate the historical role of market traders or the discrimination these women experience in the labour market, the essay first focuses on a description of ESAP and its general impact on women and the poor in Zimbabwe. After briefly describing the research environment and the interview measures used, the study provides a basic demographic profile of the sample and discusses why the respondents became market vendors. Consideration is given to the roles of traders as microentrepreneurs before exploring the problems they face under adjustment. Finally, some policy recommendations are offered to improve the income-generating possibilities of market vendors and the prospects for national development. Bibliogr., note.
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