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Informal Economies and Gender Global trends and Kenya evidence. CEMUS 8 October 2012 Asa Torkelsson. Overview. Informal economy – definition and manifestation Global trends on gender and informal sector The connection between gender and the informal economy
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Informal Economies and GenderGlobal trends and Kenya evidence CEMUS 8 October 2012 Asa Torkelsson
Overview • Informal economy – definition and manifestation • Global trends on gender and informal sector • The connection between gender and the informal economy • Women’s work in informal economies • Strategies to reduce the gaps: Gender and microfinance
Informal sector - manifestations and importance • Definition: lack of firm registration, no social security coverage, no employment contract (WDR 2013) • “Extra-legal” (WDR), sub-terranean economy (Gutman), hidden economy (Feige), underground economy (Tanzi), parallell economy (del Boca), bazaar economy (Geertz), ‘second economy’ (Maliyamkono and Bagachwa) • Emerging recognition of huge importance (Neuwirth, Sida) • Existing evidence weak – tricky and methodologically difficult to access data
General characteristics (ILO 1972) • Ease of entry • Reliance of indigenous resources • Family ownership • Small-scale • Labour-intensive • Non formal skills • Unregulated markets
Global Evidence, WDR 2013 on jobs World Bank, World Development Report 2013
Doing Business 2012 Kenya World Bank, World Development Report 2013
Theoretical Framework Torkelsson and Tassew, Quantifying Women’s and Men’s Resource Portfolios European Journal of Development Research 2008
Some Strategies to Enhance Women’s Economic Empowerment Source: Karanja and Torkelsson (2012), Filling the Rural Data Gap in Kenya, World Bak.
Note: Torkelsson and Karanja, World Bank draft 2012. Preliminary analyses using KAPAP household data.