TITLE:
Women Taking Agency through Feminized Migration Patterns and Remittances: Socio-Economic Experiences of Migrant Street Vendors, Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu-Natal-South Africa
AUTHORS:
Dr Lungile Prudence Zondi, Ms Nolwazi Magwaza
KEYWORDS:
Poverty, Feminizing, Migration, Remittances, Street Vending
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Anthropology,
Vol.13 No.1,
February
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: This
anthropological paper contributes empirical findings which reveal that feminized migration patterns have
allowed women to migrate from different parts of Southern Africa to trade as
illegal street vendors in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where
they have earned remittances “their
financial agency”. This economic/financial agency has shaped their
resilience and has lowered their dependency on their husbands. Methodology:
This study was guided by a qualitative phenomenological research design. Sampling: The study recruited twenty foreign women trading on the Pietermaritzburg
through the purposive-snowballing sampling technique. Study Findings: This paper reveals that even though patriarchy and other structural issues have
excluded African women, Pietermaritzburg streets have allowed foreign women to
generate daily earnings which are between R1050 to R2500 per day through street
vending amid many daily challenges. Earned remittances have changed their families’
socioeconomic statuses. Families have afforded basic survival needs such as
food, school fees, medical care and clothing, which have been celebrated by
their children and families. Through remittances, poverty no longer has the
face of their families. Study Conclusion: This paper recognises that
Pietermaritzburg streets as full of economic possibilities for foreign street
vending women. Study Contribution: We contribute street vending as a new context to the feminized migration literature which African women
have entered into to generate remittances in South Africa as means of escaping rife poverty. Study Recommendation: The paper further recommends that heads of state in Africa and internationally
should forge policies that maximize the safety of street vending women
worldwide.