Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the Livelihood of Women Street Vendors in Gondar Town, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia
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Date
2022-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the effects of COVID 19 on the livelihood of women street vendors, focusing on selected sites of Gondar town, Ethiopia. The research was conducted through qualitative research using a phenomenological approach. Purposive sampling was used to select participants and data was collected using in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and observation. A total of 12 participants had recruited for the study. The collected data was analyzed through thematic analysis. Data analysis indicated that street vending was a livelihood strategy for women street vendors who were poor and uneducated. In terms of the effects of COVID19 on the livelihood of women street vendors, the study showed that COVID 19 had multidimensional effects on women street vendors such as hunger, food insecurity, and health-related risks like depression, stress, and anxiety. The study also revealed that the crisis and its subsequent shutdown response have resulted in a dramatic increase in the work burden of women and created a challenging environment both at home and in vending sites. The study indicated that women street vendors who took part in the study employed different forms of coping mechanisms via Faith, social support, decreasing expenditure, skipping a meal, withdrawing female students from school, giving young girls for marriage, and changing dietary habits with minimal nutritional values containing foods as a means to overcome the shock. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommends that governmental and non-governmental institutions should pay necessary attention to the lives of women street vendors in developing public health crisis management and should take pragmatic preventive policy-based measures.
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Keywords
COVID 19, Street vendors, Livelihood, Vulnerabilities, coping Mechanism, Livelihood Strategies