Women Taking Agency through Feminized Migration Patterns and Remittances: Socio-Economic Experiences of Migrant Street Vendors, Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu-Natal-South Africa

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.