The Urban Informal Sector in Nazareth Town: The Case of Women Petty Traders in "Gimb Gebya
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Date
2000-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The last two decades have witnessed an enormous influx of urban women into various
income-generating activities in major towns like Nazareth. Though this observation
has been acknowledged in many circles, no particular attention or reference has been
made to women's participation in petty trade activities in the urban informal sector. A
number of key issues pertaining to the stresses and strains experienced by these
women in trying to make ends meet remained unadressed and unresolved.
Hence, the main purpose of this study is to understand, analyses and draw attention
to the situation of petty trade women in Nazareth "Gimb Gebya". The study sharply
focused and sought to know the characteristics of women petty trader, particularly
their socio-economic status, the nature of their activities and factors determining
sustainability of women informal sector activities. In doing so, the study had an over
all objective of proposing viable govemment policy interventions aimed at enhancing
the productivity of women petty trader activity.
Inorder to achieve this objective, a sample of 200 women petty trader were selected
and relevant data were gathered mainly through questionnaire and analyzed using
descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics.
The finding of the study revealed that, most of these petty trader in the study area
tend to be young, less educated, migrant and dominated by the ethnic group i.e.
Gurage. The study also revealed that the majority joined the informal sector due to
economic hardships and family responsibility. The majority of women businesses
were owned and managed by the women themselves and use their own saving more
often to finance the start up of their business. They tend to have little or no access to
credit institutions, to formal training and to many public services and amenities.
The study also revealed that the level of success interms of growth, expansion and
the amount of income generated in a month depended on several fa ctors. It was
found that, Education, Marital Status, Migration Status, Family Size, Size of Initial
Capital; Type of business location; keeping of records, ownership of property
determined the amount of income or profit margins of women petty trade activities.
This means that any development programme which focuses on women petty trader
should consider the strategic and practical need of women.
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Geography