Globalization, economic crisis and Africa's informal economy women workers

Abstract

The processes of globalization and debt crisis led to dramatic changes in African countries. In the context of a new economic crisis -now on a global scale -it is useful to revisit debates regarding the impact of earlier policies in response to economic crisis on the poor, with a focus on very low-income informal women workers. In this paper, we adopt a gender analysis framework to examine contending perspectives about the differential impacts of globalization, liberalization and structural adjustment programs on African women and men. We comment on two predominant schools of thought that appear to underlie and define the majority of case studies situated in African countries. While one asserts that globalization and liberalization offer entrepreneurial opportunities for women, an opposing view contends that the neoliberal political and economic reforms connected with structural adjustment policies have been devastating for poor women workers. A review of available empirical research on the responses of informal economy women workers to challenges of increased workload, reduced income and curtailed access to social services, cautions against dogmatic adherence to conceptual perspectives that either assume workers in the informal economy to be dynamic entrepreneurs when they cannot be, or condemn only contemporary policies for conditions that are the product of complex historical processes.

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery: A Rapid Scoping Review

“…Regional recommendations in those contexts include: offering social insurance and social assistance (eg, conditional cash transfers), 77,78 taking a longer-term perspective regarding recovery of informal incomes and income security rather than focusing on cash transfers alone (eg, longer-term inclusion of informal workers into social protection systems), 79 and reevaluating policies that in the context of globalization have historically had negative consequences to the informal sector, particularly in Africa. 80…”

“…Regional recommendations in those contexts include: offering social insurance and social assistance (eg, conditional cash transfers), 77,78 taking a longer-term perspective regarding recovery of informal incomes and income security rather than focusing on cash transfers alone (eg, longer-term inclusion of informal workers into social protection systems), 79 and reevaluating policies that in the context of globalization have historically had negative consequences to the informal sector, particularly in Africa. 80 Migrant Workers. Humphreys 81 recommended protecting migrant workers after the 2008 global financial crisis via the development and implementation of government policy targeted to migrant workers and other high-risk national workers, including antidiscrimination law, education (workforce development and retraining), flexible work, social protection, right to wages, and the right to join a union.…”

Global retail capital and urban futures: Feminist postcolonial perspectives

“…African and Afrodescendent scholars examine a host of urban issues, including work on urban industrialization, resource access, sustainable development, “green urbanism”, and transportation fixes (e.g., Acey, 2018; Cobbinah, Erdiaw‐Kwasie, & Amoateng, 2015; Johnston‐Anumonwo & Doane, 2011; Ikioda, 2013; Oberhauser & Johnston‐Anumonwo, 2014; Oberhauser & Yeboah, 2011). Postcolonial scholars here link these contemporary urban issues to colonial pasts (Kamete, 2013; Njoh, 2008; Omolo‐Okalebo et al, 2010; Usuanlele & Oduntan, 2018).…”

“…African feminist work weds these analyses of colonial‐racial power to patriarchy (Kinyanjui et al 2020). For example, Johnston‐Anumonwo and Doane (2011) take on the deployment of colonial binaries in debates around women's urban entrepreneurialism. Amidst rapid neoliberal globalization, they critique simplistic renderings of African women either as innovative entrepreneurs or victims of economic restructuring.…”

Globalization and gendered livelihoods in sub‐Saharan Africa: Introduction

“…In the first paper, Johnston‐Anumonwo and Doane (2011) define two approaches to evaluating the impacts of globalization, liberalization, and structural adjustment programs on women working in Africa's informal economies: namely an ‘opportunities and benefits’ perspective and a ‘vulnerabilities and constraints’ perspective. These refer to the prevailing analyses on the gendered effects of globalization crises in African countries that respectively show that globalization processes offer expanded entrepreneurial opportunities for women and report devastating effects on women informal economy workers.…”