Urban Women’s Work: Mainstreaming the Informal Economy

Alison Brown

Inclusive Cities• Women in Informal Employment - Globalizing and

Organizing (WIEGO)– global research/policy network – seeks to improve the status of working poor

• Inclusive Cities Network – nine organisations, representing– 2 million workers: wastepickers, home-based workers, street

vendors

Emerging Economies

• Informal economy mainstay of many urban economies

• Provides majority of urban jobs

• Employs more women than men

• Can contribute to municipal income

• Crucial to urban livelihoods and poverty reduction

• …but, rarely exploited in LED – why?

What is the Informal Economy?

• Legal product, extra-legal process….

• Includes people in:

Unwaged work– Own account workers– Running small business employing others– Unpaid family members

Waged work– Employees (formal/informal businesses)

Region IE as % of N-AE

Women in IE (% in N-AE)

Men in IE (% in N-AE)

Sub-Saharan Africa

72 84 63

Benin 93 97 87

Latin America 51 58 48

Mexico 55 55 54

Asia 65 65 65

India 83 86 83

Scale of the Informal Economy

Informal employment in Non-Agricultural employment by Sex (1994-2000)

City Governments

• Many local government regulations affect IE– highways, public health, business regulation,

markets, planning, social welfare etc…..

• ..but LG response to IE is ambivalent

• Some good practice (rarely sustained)

• More common…– benign neglect …– …… systematic harassment

• ….why?

Critical Problems

• Challenges to LGs in managing large IEs

• Competing claims on urban space

• Traders complain ‘they only want our vote’

• A crucial problem is lack of reliable data– numbers of workers – economic impact

• No joined-up info on what LG already does for IE

Remittances

Remittances

Market fees to LG

Market fees to LG

Family Dependent

s

Family Dependent

s

WholesalerWholesaler

Food sellersFood

sellers

LandlordLandlord

PortersPorters

Inclusive Cities Campaign

Builds the capacity of member-based organisations

• Global trade

• Organisation and representation

• Social security

• Statistics

• Urban Policies

Statistics

How many workers?

Labour Force Survey S. Africa

• annual survey - 30,000 hhds

• non-agricultural workforce

• occupational classifications

• OCs – level 2– craft-related trade workers

(44%)– elementary occupations (eg:

street vendors) (26%)– service/shop/sales workers

(11%)

Campaigning…

StreetNet & the Durban experience

• South Africa hosting FIFA World Cup in 2010

• Campaign World Class Cities

• Street traders fear eviction

• Arguing for World Class Cities for All

Challenges

• Recognise integral place on the IE in LED

• Give recognition of role of women workers

• Enable…..

Women to work as Agents of Change

• New partnerships?

• Examples of good practice?

Alison Brown, Cardiff University BrownAM@cf.ac.uk