Cities, Poverty, and Development

Download or read book Cities, Poverty, and Development written by Alan Gilbert and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1982 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a squatter neighbourhood of Nairobi (Kenya), sexual division of labour in the informal sector is examined. Five categories of neighbourhood iinformal sector activity were analysed: the entertainment industry, rental of habitat, shop-keeping, small-scale production or services and hawking. Capital investment and costs and incomes were registered. Women owner-operators were predominant in beer-brewing and prostitution, habitat rental and vegetable retailing sectors. A correlation between female barrenness and business success was noted. It is concluded that women sell in the iinformal urban market place the skills they normally practice in the home. It is recommended that urban iinformal sector studies emphasise gender issues.