Women

on

the

Streets

Vendingand Public Space in Chile

Lorena Nunez
The informalsector is often seen as being composedof a lumpsumof people's failures, or is defined as arising out of
limitationsin theformal sector itself: It is, as a consequence,looked upon as stagnant.However, the informalsector can
also be seen as being constantlybuilt uponand transformedbypeople 's own organised responsesto given situations,often
at times of crisis.
Thisarticle aims to examinestreet vendingas an informalsector activityundertakenby women in general and in the
contextof Chilefromthisperspective.Moreover,women
instreetvendingchallengeculturalvaluesandbeliefsthat reinforce
the stereotypes. Thusthe street as a physical and symbolicspace becomes the scenario uponwhichlwomen defy the values
which reinforce their subordination.
I
Introduction

This article aims to examine what

characterisesstreet vending as an activity
undertakenby women in generalandwithin
the context of Chile.2 Its underlying assumption is that women do have choices,
althoughtheirrangeof possibilities may be
limited due to factors such as extremepoverty, lack of formal education, social and
culturalconstraints,etc. I contendthatwhen
women participate in street vending, the
activity in itself is boundto imply a change
in their subordinatedstatus.
The changes in women's lives (and in
men's), do not just hinge on structuralconditions, but are ratheran accumulativeeffect from processes internalisedin the subjective experience of the people involved.
ThereforeI will give attentionto the actors
who initiate and supportthese processes.
The study is based on two kinds of data,
the Diaz andHola study (1988) foundedon
a sample of 59 cases and on statistical
information,andseven in-depthinterviews.
ne first type of informationtracestendencies in the natureof women's participation
in the informalsector and the main features
of this participation,whereas the in-depth
interviewsindicatehow the process is lived
by women in one specific segment of the
informal sector.
The methodology used in the analysis of
the interviews is initendedto diminish the
degree to which researchers interpret
people's experiences based on their own
prejudices, upholding paradigmsalthough
reality does not conformto them any more.
I am conscious of the fact thatthis problem
cannot be entirely avoided, since we are
dealing with social dimensions in which
people's own subjectivity is embedded in
reality. Thus, as a way to deal with my own
subjectivityand with the purposeof apprehending the women's perspective, I have
used theirown voice.

Organisation(ILO) in 1969 [Tinker 1987].

The past two decades have shown both the
clarifying potentialand the shortcomingsof
'HE informal sector has largely been dethis rich theoretical debate. Some theoretifined by using the formal sector as a model.
cal stands have remained relatively more
The diversity and heterogeneityof the phestable throughoutthe debate on the informal
nomenacovered by the terminformalsector
sector. This is particularlyso for studies in
has made it difficult to apply criteria in
LatinAmerica. The informalsectorconcept
characterisingit. The informalsectoris seen
used on the continent was strongly influas the result of an overflow from the formal
enced by the ILO/PREALCversion based
sector. The assumption underlying this
on a structuralistmodel. This model exinterpretationis thatthe informalsector is a
plains the origin of the informal sector as a
receptaclefor those who cannotfind workin
result of the developmentroutefollowed by
the formal sector.
thirdworld countries, which is groundedon
There are attempts to explain the exista laboursurplusinsufficiently absorbedinto
ence of the informal sector by blaming
a formal, or modem, sector. In compliance
people themselves, for the lack of training
with this model, factors such as higherecorequiredto have access to the formal/modnomic concentration rates and the indisem sector, but many other interpretations
criminateuse of technology basedon capital
focus ratheron the limitationsof the modern
intensity, make it impossible to absorbthe
sectoritself. It has been said thatthe modern
growing labour force, thus generating a
sectoris unableto createthejobs requiredto
structuralsurplusof labour[Tokman1989].
absorbthe growing population. It has also
In this context, and faced with an acute
been said that the modern sector takes adshortageof social security benefits, the unvantageof the existing surplusof labourby
employed in Latin America have come to
paying salaries below the minimum level
generateincome throughself-employment.
requiredto reproduceandmaintainthe famThelaboursurpluswould, therefore,consist
ily. Thereforeunemployment,underemployof the unemployed and those employed in
ment and the shortage of social security
the informal sector [Cartaya 1987]. The
benefits in tlhirdworld countries are at the
model used in Latin A.ierica identifies a
basis of people's survival self-employmentr
distinction in terms of scale of production,
strategies.
employmentcategories andlabourmarkets.
This article challenges paradigmswhich
The formalsectoris associated withproducsee the informal sector as only composed of
tion in large-scale industries, salaries paid
a lumpsumof people's failure,or thatdefine
in wages, and modes of operation covered
it as the result of limitations in the formal
by labour legislation, in comparison with
sector itself. Both these perspectives view
the informal sector associated with labourthe informal sector as a stagnantone and I
intensive, small scale enterprises, anidlow
disagree with this standpoint. I believe the
paid, low skilled casual workershaving few
informalsectoris alsoconstantly beingbuilt
careerprospects [Mac Ewen Scott 1991].
up and transformed by people's own
According to ILO's employment
organisedresponses to given situations,ofcategorisation,the informal sector includes
ten at times of crisis. I supportthe contenemployers, employees, workers of microtion that people in the informal sector are
enterprises (ILO defines infornal entermaking choices, while actively guiding
prises as those with five workersor less), the
II
their strategies to that sector. They are not
self-employed (excluding professional and
Concept of Informal Sector
as passive, ignorantor incapableas they are
teclhnicalpersonnel),domestic servants,ocThe concept of the 'informalsector' has casionalworkers,andnon-remunerated
made out to be and they do not necessarily
famhave to be aiming to enter the formal sector been debated since it was first used in re- ily workers. There is thus an implied hiereither.'
search done by the InternationalLabour arclhy,in which the informal sector is con-

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

WS-67

cepuuallylocated on a lower, more disadvantagedposition.

The diversity andheterogeneityof activities involved in the informal sector makes
the use of the concept itself difficult. Furthermore,the diverse and multiple mechanisms that in practice link informal activities with the modem sector bringsinto question the dualism underlyingthe concepts of
a formal and informal sector.
Linksin productionareeasier to differentiate, however. Largeindustriesin themodern sector, by means of subcontracting
mechanisms,have graduallyshiftedpartsof
their productive process to small-scale industries.Linkages in termsof labourcan be
recognised in the process of 'casualisation'
of the labour force. Modern firms are
increasingly hiring temporary labour by
contractual arrangements, to ensure that
workers "are excluded from social welfare
payments or long-term security" [Moser
1981, p 19].
Despite the fact that contemporaryviewpoints seem to agree in regardingthe informal andformalsectorsmore as a continuum
thanas two opposite poles, the tendency to
defme an informal sector as contrary to a
formal one is still present in many studies.
The informal sector is said to have
unorganisedlabour,as opposed to organised
labourin the formal sector; the formal sector is defined as modern and the informal
one as traditional;the formal sector is ruled
by laws andthe state andthe informalone is
expected to be unregisteredand illegal.
Theparadigmsused amongresearchersin
the informal sector have had a greatdeal of
influence on theirresearchresults. ITe risk
of such academicexercises is thatempirical
datais collected andanalysedin such a way
that their results cannot but confirm the
assumptionsused to guide them. Moreover,
the risk of searching for the validation of
paradigmsis to lose 'touch' with the reality
being researched. Then the utility of a
coherenttheoreticalframeworkto basefieldworkuponbecomesanobstaclewhen"...conceptual models not only guide researchbut
also mould social reality" [Bijlmer 1991,
p 142].

The self-employed also illustratethe difficulty for those involved in the informal
sector to unionise their labour. It is commonly believed thatwhen theydo attemptto
organise themselves, personal interests are
always placed first and that this seeking of
individual, isolated solutions generally
weakens theirendeavours. Informalworkers are not deemed to have a group conscience or a kind of guild identity. Such
beliefs are refuted in practice by the existence of many cases in which the self-employed have overcome the barriersof selfinterest. The organisationalexperience of
self-employed women's groups, Working
Women's Forum, in Madras,India, for instance, is a successful example of how
women have articulatedthemselves in such
a way as to attractwidespreadmembership
while preservingthe initial grassroots character of their groups (growing from 700
members to a multi-stateorganisationwith
urbanandruraldivisions), at the same time
assuring egalitarianaccess to the benefits.
These women have set up a special credit
programmein orderto maintainor expand
women's businesses at the first stages, and
then gone on to address collective social
needs at a community level.3
Attemptstodevelopa comprehensiveview
of the informal sector often yield
generalisations which do not necessarily
comply with the heterogeneity and dynamism exhibitedby this sector. Manystudies
describethesector,fromthepointof view of
the labour market, as not having entrance
barriers,educationalor skill requirements,
with a predominanceof self-employment
(as opposed to formal wage-work).4
Actually, only certain segments of the
informal labour market can fit the above
characterisation.Petty tradeactivitiescould
fitthis descriptionmost accurately,buteven
such activities vary widely among themselves, fromthemostmarginalones, suchas
ambulatorycommerce, to those in which
vendorspossess a fixedplace on the streetor
a stall in a market. This differentiation
questions valuing petty trade activities according to one rigid definition. Petty trade
activities, for example, tend to be classified
as self-employment, while some researchAs UNORGANISED
SECrOR
ers [Moser 1981; Escobar1989] have demA description of the informal sector as onstratedthatmany petty trade-activitiesin
unorganised and unstructuredis only ad- marketsare in practice family enterprises.
equate within the context of the modern
In researchon streetworkersin Indonesia
sector model. The distinctive features of [Bijlmer1989], they weredesegregatedinto
each sector involve how their productive threesub-categories:disguised wage workprocesses are organised, whether or not ers, dependent workers and the truly selftheir workers are unionised and prevalent employed. His findingsrefute the idea that
labourlaws. Withrespectto theorganisation "the informalsectorparticipantsaresimply
of theproductiveprocess, theself-employed supposedto be workingon theirown behalf,
represent, according to the modern sector relyingon theirown resourcesandcapabilimodel, an extreme example of the lack of ties andbravelyoperatingin an unregulated
structureof the informal scctor, since one and competitive market" [Bijlmer 1989, p
person only has the role of worker, em- 1581.Bijlmer's work illustrateshow referployer and owner simultaneously.
ring to street vendors as belonging to thle

WS-68

self-employed category actually hides a

whole set of interwoven relationships, for
example, the degree to which a householdis
involved in an activity and therole of gender
relationships. When such factors are disregarded, gender relations remain entangled
in the categories used to analyse the informal sector.
Street vending activity is said to have no
barrierswith respect to access, as set forthin
the informal sector definition. The street
appearsto be just a free open space for those
wanting to use it. Whetherthis is really the
case, however, warrants closer examination. The criteria 'lack of entrancebarriers',
also tends to disregard gender relations.
Theremay be, for example, culturalbarriers
which preventwomen from using the street.
Is the street 'equally free' for women and
men? Street vending is commonly believed
to be an activity lacking formal educational
requirements and therefore the image of
informal workers as lacking training and
skills has become popularised. This
characterisationis based on the model of the
formal sector, defined in terms of people's
access to 'formaltraining'. Thusit becomes
necessary to reinterpretthe notions of training and skills.
The informal sector is said to shelter the
unemployed and in general the less privileged in society, among them women, migrants, children, the very young or the very
aged, people who have no chance of finding
a job in the formal sector-the seemingly
unemployable. Some studies of the informal sector have triedto demonstratethatthe
sector is not only a place where the poor and
marginalised are to be found, by pointing
out the profitable source of income some
activities within the sector yield [Raczinski
1978]. These views, according to Moser,
tend to obscure the fact that "for the majority the only form of survival is in highly
competitive small-scales enterprises producing petty commodities, and underpaid
and irregularcasual work-in a wide variety
of marginalservice sectoractivities" [Moser
1981, pp 20]. Such emphasis has also
deviated attentionfrom the gender composition of the poor in the informal sector and
from the fact that among the poor, women
arethe poorest. Women, more thanmen, are
to be found in the poorest economic strata:
"In virtually all economies, women predominate in the lower end of the labour
market where they cluster in specific sec-

tors" [Moser 1981, p 20].

PRESENCEOF WOMEN

Feminist scholars have sought to link the

lack of accuracy regarding women's presence in the informalsector andthe existence
of agender bias in studies done on this sector
which has greatly contributedto the continued invisibility of women's work [Tinker
1987; M4acEwen Scott 1991; Conolly 1985;

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

Friedmanand H.ambridge1989]. Many of

these authorshighlight the view that if certaincorrectionswere introducedto measure
women's participationin the informal sector, their presence would in fact be overwhelming. An example is the earlieremphasis on employment enhancementwith which
studies on the infornal sector were concerned, which focused attention on small
manufactures and overlooked women's
activities:
Generally,data were collected only from
visible enterprises,those operatingin the
open or in temporaryphysical structures.
Womenworkingin homes were obviously
ignoredunder such circumstances[Tinker
1987, p 351.
The conception of work nused-i&much
research has made it possible to overlook
the unpaidwork done by women, simply by
consideringit partof the household'sreproductive task. Such genderbias based on the
assumption that men alone are household
breadwinners,was also expressedin the use
of inadequatemethodology to collect information, notcapturing "a multitudeof small
and irregularways in which women often
add to domestic incomes" [Friedmanand
Hambridge 1989, p 163]. Not only researchersbut male and female informants
alike have failed to recognise the importanceof women's work andthus the significance of their contributionto the economic
survival of the poor has continually been
underestimated.
Lateron in the debate, feminists stressed
the importanceof analysing women's participation in the informal sector [Conolly
1985, and Mac Ewen Scott 1991, in case
studies on Mexico City and Lima]. The
natureof women's participationin the sector supportsthe assertion that what can be
said of the informal sector might well be
applied to female employment.
In the case of Mexico, a statistical study
differentiated by sex for 1979, shows that
almost throughout all informal economic
sectors,theproportionof womenwas double
that of men. Women were found to be
concentratedinto a relatively limited number of specific occupations,such as domestic service, the garment industry and prepared foods. A study of women's employment in Limafoundthatit complied withthe
typicalcharacteristicsof theinformalworker
andthat this held truefor women's employment in both the formal and informal sectors. Connolly argues that the typical conception of informal employment as having
highly exploitative, labour-intensive production conditions, discontinuous production, low productivity, use of unskilled
manual labour,etc, could well describe the
featuresof female employment, suggesting:
...a possible line of inquily which could
substitutethe informalsectorapproach:the
historical,culturalandideologloaldetermi-

Economic and Political Weekly

nants of women's work, and howthese might

explain the way certain economic activities
have developed (or survive), on the basis of
highly exploitative specific types of labour
processes' [Connolly 1985, p 77].

Mac Ewen Scott goes furtherin this approach, arguing that the segregation and
differences between men's and women's
workin bothsectors "crosscutsthe formal/
informalsectordivision ratherthanrunning
parallelwith it" (1991). This would imply
that gender analysis invalidates the use of
the informal sector concept in its present
form andchallenges its basic frameworkas
such. Ratherthanthe argumentthatthereis
a single axis of segmentationof the labour
market, the authorstresses that two exist.
Gender analysis helps to understand the
'engendered' features of female and male
activities.
Mac Ewen Scott does not proposemerely
replacingthe enterprise/employmentstatus
variablesas the majoraxis of segmentation
of the labour market, since gender differences are also found in the formal/informal
sector distinction:
Withinthemale/femalelabourmarkets,
there
were differencesin skill, earningand job
mobilityassociatedwith the conventional
formal/informal
sectorvariables[MacEwen
Scott 1991, p 116].
To explain sex segmentationin the informal sector, Mac Ewen Scott regards the
family as an institutionaffecting the entire
organisationof small-scaleproduction.The
family, the basis of labour division and
resource allocation in the domestic sphere,
plays a similar role in small-scale production. These argumentsimply that gender
inequalitiesin the informalsectorcannotbe
explained by the informal/formal sector
model alone. The fact that gender cuts
acrossenterprisesize as an axis of differentiation, means that such an explanation is
partial and that there is a need for more
explanatoryvariables. These "have to be
included so that the variation within the
sectors can be explainedas well as between
them" [Mac Ewen Scott 1991,p 128].
Despite increasing consensus on the potential of gender analysis to expand and
perfect the informalsectorparadigm,it has
not had theexpected impactof changingthe
model itself. Its bigh degree of ambiguity
has given free way to many criticisms-tlhe
very ambiguitythathas helped to maintain
the concept's validity.
WOMEN,POOREST
OFTHEPOOR

on the informal sector.

Many studies have relevated the inferior
position which women occupy in the informal labourmarket[Arizpe 1977; Jelin 1977;
Heyzer 1981]. These studies have tended to
identify poor women, survival strategies
and informal workers as synonymous in
theiranalysis. Theparadigmis recognisable
in IHeyzer's overview of women's participation in the informal sector, in which she
states:
Manyof the women in the informalsector
come fromextremelypoor householdsand
this includes single women with children,
womenmaried to menin low incomebrackets andolder,unmarried,divorcedand widowed women... for many of these women
workingin theinformalsectoris a matterof
survival[Heizer1981, p 31].
Similarly, some studies, such as Arizpe's in
1977, have looked at women working as
street vendors as performing a needless,
unproductiveactivity. She speculates that
women would change jobs if they had the
chance to, by saying that
They tend to offer an unnecessaryservice
andto createtheirowndemand,sincea street
vendorwhosells whatshe hasjust boughtinthe markettwo blocks awayis not fulfilling
a realdemand. It is reasonableto suppose
that if they had other alternatives,these
womenwouldnot engage in such activities
[Arizpe1977, p 34].
Thetoneof some studiesregar&ngwomen
in the informal sector, particularlyregarding petty trading,are influenced by the way
researchers themselves regard poverty or
poor people themselves. Bunster, in his
WorkSellers and Servants (1983), transmits, when looking at a Peruvianmarket,the
image of women as powerless, victimised
people on the very fringe of society, who
suffer from authoritarianismand constant
intimidation by inspectors. They are seen
by theauthoras "... powerless to fight back"
[Bunster 1983].
Althouglhit can be argued that the situation portrayedabove seems to constitute a
patternin many thirdworld countries,other
studies have also arguedagainst the validity
of the paradigm of poor women in the
informalsector, by highlightingremarkable
exceptions. The case of women in Grand
Dakar [Van de Laar 1991] is a good example. Thlestudy found that it was privileged women who could participatein the
informal sector:
This case studydemonstratesthatmembershipin a relativelywell-to-dohouseholdis a
necessaryprecondition.Onlythosewomen
who have the tinmeto embarkon private
have the 'luxury'to conentrepreneurship

Acknowledging -the significance of

women's participationin the informal sector and the subsequentstudies oriented to
trol their own finances ... Therefore in the
explain why women were a majority in
GrandDakar
situationwomenworkinginthe
certain of its branches (such as domestic
informalsector are privilegedratherthan
service,pettytradeandhome-basedorpieceobligedto do so [Vander Laan1991,p 65].
work), have contributed to build up anld The fact women in the informal sector can
popularisca paradigmin women's studies also be located in a position of relative

October 30, 1993

WS-69

power, questions the taken-for-grantednotion thatit is a constantsourceof oppression

for women.
To summarise, while one can agree that
the origin of the informal sector is influenced by a particulartype of capitalist development existing in the third world, accepting without question the broad commonalityof featuressupposedto characterise
this sector is a mistake. One particular
feature that has been uniquely associated
with the informal sector is the lack of
unionisation, since the formal sector has a
much greater tradition of becoming
unionised. If we consider the informal
sector's linkages with the formal sector we
can see the existence of 'casual labour' or a
non-unionisedlabour segment even within
the formal sector. The same trend of the
modem sector to deregulateits labourforce
questions the dichotomic definitions of legal/illegal, formal/informal.
Self-employment as a category of the
informal sector as much as ignores its dependent relations with the formal sector.
The informal sector is also highly heterogeneous, so the criteria of true self-employment, lack of entrance barriersand no skill
requirements are controversial when applied to petty trade. The characterisationof
the informal sector as typically female and
typically made up of poor women who are
just helpless victims has also been shown to
be invalid [Bunster 1983; Diaz and Hola
1988;Van der Laan 1991].
In any case, I am arguing that the studies
done about women's participation in the
informal sector have popularised a paradigm which mechanically transports the
analysis of women's subordination only
within the rigid confines of a fornal/informal dichotomy. This is done in a way that
ignores the diversity of women's experiences within the informal sector. One has to
studydifferent types of activities within the
sector; not all of them may adhere to the
conventionally described 'features'. The
relationshipof gender to a specific activity
will have to be sought in variablesotherthan
mere formality/informality.
While the notion of the informal sector is
problematic,it isuseful to retaintheconcept
somewhat loosely fbr the purpose of this
study,since up to the presentno othermodel
has been fully structured and developed
from which to try to examine and understandthe workingactivities I am referringto
here and how women participatein them.

ation of new jobs. The standardof living of

those who did have employment also went
down: for 1982, real wages fell by 16 per
cent compared with the previous year, and
declined another12 per cent duringthe first
ten months of the following year in relation
to 1982.
The actionof the state was solely oriented
towardsdecreasing some of the most severe
impact the new economic measures had on
the population (throughthe creation of special programmesdesigned to reduce unemployment,such asPOHJandPEM). Through
changes in legislation, the government facilitated flexibility in the relations between
employers and workers. Modern enterprises used the new legislation to subcontractsmall ifidtustriesas a way to make the
labour force flexible, reduce salary costs
and decrease staff. Segmentation of the
labour market became stronger, limiting
access to betterjobs to a large proportionof
the populationwhich was self-employed or
underemployed in the informal sector, "a
competitive and secondary segment with
lower and flexible incomes, that allow this
segment to adjust to the variations of the
economy" [Leiva and Pollack 19921.
The informal sector showed a pro-cycliCHILEAN
ECONOMIC
CONrXT3
cal behaviour strongly linked to the ecoDuring the last two decades, Chile has nomic cycle. In the two periods of crisis it
undergonesubstantialtransformationsin its shrank,casting workersout into unemployeconomic structure.The generaldynamism ment,just like theformal sector did. During
and growth of its economy has coexisted expansion periods, the sector showed an
with high levels of poverty and the social increase in its capacity to absorb labour
exclusion of a significantnumberof people. force. Thus, increase in demand for its
Thetwo economicrecessionsaffectingChile goods and services is seen as related to
(1975-1976 and 1982-1983), along with the activation of the economy. Inversely the
neo-liberaleconomic model applied by the periodswith highestratesof unemployment
military dictatorship,have hadhigh impact coincide with a reduction of the informal
on thestructureof employmentandthe level sector.
of unemployment.
Such behaviourshowed that the informal
Changesin Chileaneconomy as a conse- sectorwas nota refugefor theformalsector's
quenceof its financialandcommercialopen- unemployed, since the crises also affected
ing negativelyaffectedunemploymentrates. those in the informal sector. As Leiva and
The state changed from trying to counter- Pollack (1992) affirm, this phenomenon is
balance social inequalities to a subsidiary explainedby the featuresof the unemployed
role. It reducedits dimensionsas well as its from the formalsector: "these unemployed
functions, for example, decreasing public did not correspondto the characteristicsof
expenditure. Unemployment rates have people who usually work in the informal
tended to increase since 1974. The histori- sector".
cally significant rate of 6 per cent unemUnemployment mainly affected the priploymentreached13percentbetween1976- marylabourforce: adultmeri,who werecast
1981. During the second recession (1982- away from earning wages in the formal
83), the rateof open unemploymentgrew to sector. This section of the population was
18 per cent, reaching 30 per cent when not likely to seek self-employment, at least
including those absorbed by state not initially. Labourdemandin the informal
programmesdesigned to hold down unem- sector also decreased;the crises reducedthe
ployment.
demandfor goods and services producedby
m
The new economic policies implied a the informalsector and informalemployers
Women in Informal Sector in Chtle
severe change in the productive structure; were thus not very willing either to hire
We examine here the structuralfactors changes andreductionin thecompositionof those unemployed by the formal sector.
which eventually determinewomen's work investment, reductionin the intensity with Ilence, it is valid to deduce that an increase
in the informal sector, and which refer "'... to
which the labourforce was used, and thus a in the informalsector tends to be composed
the overall social, economic and political rise in unemploymentrates. During this of the secondary labour force, women and
conditions that exist in a particularsociety period, the depression of some economic the very old or young.
at a certain historical moment" [Friedman sectors was not compensatedwithlthe creThe economic model imposed in Chile

WS-70

and Hambridge1989, p 168].

Structural factors are ingrained in the
economic crises which took place in Latin
Americain the 80s, resultingin a significant
expansion of informal employment on the
continentas a whole. A common featureis
to be found:
Between1980and1985,largeprivateenterprises,asa meanto adjustingto therecession
createdfewerjobs;workersmaderedundant
by the recessionandthe newlabourmarket
entrantshadto resortto the informalsector
to survive[Tolkman1989, p 1067].
In Chile's case, the above situation was
intensified by the authoritarianismof the
political regime, which added social and
political marginalityto those alreadyeconomically excluded. This section intendsto
show how this whole situationhada particularimpactonpoorwomen, influencing their
incorporationinto the informalsector. The
structuralfactors I will refer to deal with
employment conditions in the formal sector, andchangesin thecountry'sproductive
structurewithin a periodincludingtwo economicrecessions (1975 and1982), although
the statistical information offered deals
mainly with the latterone.

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

and the recent economic recessions, have

meant a reduction in employment and a
decrease in the population's purchasing
power.

Women appearto be concentratedwithin

a limited rangeof activities in the informal
sector,andthistendencydidnotvarythroughout the two periodsof crisis. In 1982, of the
totalamountof women workingin the inforSTATnSTICAL
BACKGROUND
mal sector, 65 per cent were working in
Here I will deal with informationyielded domestic service. In the self-employed
by Diaz andHola's study,6which contains a sector 80 percent of the women (study done
general overview of women in Chile's in- by SENCE) were in less prosperous and
formalsector. Thepurposeof presentingthe gender-typedactivities(seamstresses,weavresultsof this study is to place women street ers, hairdressers),working part time and
vendors within the scope of this study, and havingverylow incomes. The occupational
to question the way the street vending activ- category 'female artisans and operators'
ity has been debatedclassically. The points showed a decreasingtrend;itrepresented14
of divergence will be discussed in the last per cent in 1970 andonly 8 per cent in 1982,
partof this chapter.According to the study of the total of women employed in that
carriedout by Diaz and Hola, the structural sector.Theoccupationalcategory vendors'
conditions of the economic crises forced became more importantas time went by,
poor families to set up diverse mechanisms both for men and women. Women's inin order to recompose their income and volvement went from 10 percent in 1970 to
women's absorptioninto the informal sec- 15 per cent in 1982, in relation to the total
tor is proposed to be understoodas part of female occupationin the informal sector.
these mechanisms.
INTO
WOMEN'S
INFORMAL
ENTRY
SECrOR
In 1982, the informal sector represented
23 per cent of the total economically active
The studyby Diaz andHola was basedon
population(EAP). Figures for 1982 reveal 59 interviewsto women workingin the city
that the proportionof women in relation to of Santigo. This study classified the ways
the total labour force in the infonnal sector women were insertedin the informalsector
was 45 per cent, versus 55 per cent male into fourcategories:(1) self-employmentin
participation. However, if we look at these productionandcommerce, (2) provisionof
figures separately, it may be noticed that services, (3) piece-work,and (4) non-remuwomen were present to an even higherpro- neratedwork. Thecriteriaused to construct
portionin the informal sector. In that year, these categories was how income is generonly 18 per cent of the economically active ated (profits, salary or unpaid).
male populationwas in the informal sector,
while women constituted 35 per cent of the Self-employed Women
total economically active female populaWomen have controlover the whole protion (FEAP). Therefore, even though the ductive or commercialprocess. Three situsector's composition by genderis very simi- ations with growing degrees of complexity
lar, the participationof women in relationto aredistinguishablehere:one-personactivithe total female economically active popu- ties, informal subcontracting,and colleclation was double that of men.
tive forms of work.
In general terms, the educationallevel of
(a) One-person activities: These norinformal workers showed a tendency to mally take place at home, on a small scale,
increase and this contradicts the general within a context of poverty and lack of
assumption that the sector is composed resources. Domesticmeans aretransformed
mainly of uneducatedpeople. In 1982, 44 into productive ones, and production is
percent of the women comprisingthe infor- gearedto local markets. The income genermal sector had a secondary education, a ated is very limited and usually women do
figure that was 21 per cent for 1970. In- not estimate the complete value of their
crease in the incorporation of educated work when fixing their prices. Lack of
women into the sector can be explained by capitalmakes it difficult forthemto expand.
thereductionin the availabilityofjobs in the Eventual incorporationof non-paid family
formal sector. In terms of age, Chile's fe- workersdoes not imply growing levels of
male labour force, in both the formal and complexity in the productive process, but
informal sectors, 50 per cent of the female rathera joint, although limited, family relabourforce is between 34-54 years. There sponse to immediate necessities.
was an increase in the proportionof women
(b) There is incorporationof paid work
heads of household for the sector. In 1970, in subordinatedconditions. Tle decision
they made up 32 per cent of the total of power as well as most importanttasksarein
women working in the informal sector, and women's hands. It should be understood
in 1982 39 per cent. The same year, the that there is a separation of capital and
percentageof wives workingin the informal labour factors, the former being women's
sector rose to 38.9 per cent, which could be contribution,andthe second one made posexplainedby a decline in male salaries or by sible through the hiring of labour force.
unemployment.Womenjoined thesector to Thereis a morecomplex organisationof the
compensate the depressed family salary.
productive process; production and

Economic and Political Weekly October 30, 1993

commercialisationareseen as differenttasks
involving different strategies. This separationof tasksrequireshiringadditionallabour
force, and in such circumstances the economic unit tends to be more stable. Women
in these units reveal managerial skills and a
particular economic rationality in which
capitalis preserved,whateverthe income is,
to reproducethe productive process.
In situations where the reproduction of
the means of production is at risk, family
consumptionis reduced to assurereproduction of capital andof the productiveprocess.
(c) In the thirdcase, a productiveunit is
organised collectively. Social relations of
productionarebasedon equalitariangrounds
between two or more people. Any technical
division of the productive process is oriented towards generatingprofits, to be distributedcollectively. In some units, their
participantsdo very similar tasks. In other
units the complexity of the productive process requiresclear-cut specialisation: those
geared to the productionprocess and those
geared to trade. In circumstances in which
workrequiresabsorbingmore labourforce,
relatives tend to join forces. The classical
pattern of this type of collective informal
business is structuredarounda couple, and
may eventually absorb other family members. In some cases these unitsmay also hire
a stablelabourforce for some specific tasks,
and this implies a higher complexity of the
economic unit.
In any of the above cases the principal
barriersthat nmustbe overcome to counteract the stagnationof the economic unit are
identified by the study as lack of capital,
lack of credit policies oriented towardsthe
sector, difficulties in access to marketswith
higher purchasepower, police persecution,
and difficulties in obtaining legal permission (expensive costs and extreme bureaucratic requirements and procedures). An
example of this category includes production and/orcommercialisation of foodstuff
(cakes, sweetfood, bread,home-madecakes
and ice-cream, etc), furnituremanufacturing, toy making,knitting, handicrafts,making clothes, gatheringcardboard.lThestreet
vending activity is classified here.
Provision of Se,vices
This categorywas subdividedin this study
into (a) women who offer a service between
clients and a fornal employer, (b) women
who offer a service and are self-employed,
and (c) domestic servants.
(a) Services offered which are an intermediation between the formal enterprise
and clients. These are regulated by the
normsof the enterpriseitself. These norms
are generally very rigid and are imposed on
women, and their failure to comply usually
means no longer beingengaged by theenterprise. Somuch time is normallyrequiredfor
suchlactivities thatthey cannotbe combined

WS-71

with anyotherpa.idwork.Income generated

witl dependon working capacity. This type
of workdone by women is defined as informal because no formal contract exists and
those who undertake do not have social
security, benefits. Examples of this are
sales promoters, baby sitters for child-care
centres, etc.
(b) The self-employed: the women offering these services are owners of the means
of production. They do not work for an
employer buthave several customers. They
fix theirown rateaccordingto the value they
assign to their work, and to the competition.
This attribute is what distinguishes selfemployed women from the ones mentioned
earlier. Examples of this are grave-keepers
at the cemetery, hair-dressers who make
house calls, manucurists,etc.
(c) The last and largest group is the one
composed of domestic servants(they represent one quarterof the female labourforce).
Domestic service can be practisedfrom day
to day or as live-in help. When women live
in the homes that hire them, they simultaneously solve their problems of food and
shelter, and also earn payment in money.
Whatever option they choose depends on
personalsituations(whetherthey arerecent
migrants,single or married,with or without
children). When women are employed as
live-in servants,they sell almost theirentire
use of time to their employers, who also fix
the value of theirwork and how their salary
shouldbe paid,partlyin money andpartlyin
commodities.
Piece Workersor Semi-Waged Workers
There are two ways of doing outwork,
either at home or engaging in temporary
work in agriculture. In both cases, the
amountof money women earn will depend
on the amountof pieces of workthey finish.
This type of work sometimes requires a
training process and is highly irregular,
dependingon themediationof a thirdperson
(who subcontractsthe workers)or on external conditions (such as a certain season, in
the case of agriculture). Outwork is
characterised by very intensive working
periods followed by periods of inactivity.
The salary paid does not include the use of
the means of production, nor some raw
materials women use in their work, or paying family workerswho sometimes contribute. These workers are usually linked to
industrialproduction, as in different manufactures, making clothing, making ribbons
for bridal bouquets, manufacturing cardboardboxes, etc.
Temporary work in agriculture in the
suburbs of the metropolis is a source vf'
employmentfor poorwomen in Santiago,at
oiven intervals throughoutthe year. Thlusit
is h-ighlyuncertain, although. to a certain
extent, itmay be predictable. Like outwork,
it is paid by units. The amouuntpaid will

WS-74

depend on the working capacity and the

length of working hours, which usually do
not take into account resting breaks. This
work implies heavy physical effort, and
health problemsoften affect those who engage for a long time in this activity.
Unpaid Workers
This includes a diversity of people (not
only women; children's unpaid labour is
frequent here) in a diversity of activities,
who get different kinds of retributionfor
their work, but never in terms of money.
This work is characterisedby being neither
valued nor recognised, but by being regardedratheras a necessity or as a family
obligation. According to this study, the
women interviewed shared the feature of
being relatives of the persca to whom they
were workingfor andworkingin a subordinatedposition. This category includesparticipationas unpaidworkersat any stage of
a productive process, which is generally
carriedout in small workshops.
The existence of a patternemerges, accordingto these authors,given by the insufficient income generatedby women, forcing them to combine diverse forms of paid
and unpaid work as a survival strategy:
"Povertywouldmakedomestictasksheavier
for women, due to the scarcityof resources.
The paid and unpaidwork done by women
would not assure the subsistence of the
family unit". Doing paid work was perceived by the women studiedas an extraordinary situation, resulting from their own
poverty and extreme necessity, ratherthan
as a market motivation to enlarge family
consumption.The womenstated,therefore,
thatthis was not the rightrole for them, and
that under normal conditions they would
have preferred to stay home only doing
domestic chores.
Women in paid work are breaking the
ideology which pins women down exclusively to theirreproductiveroles.Paidwork
for women implies a double load. The
transferenceof domestic tasks to otherfamily members is often not possible and even
when partly possible, it does not relieve
women of being mainly responsible for
housework.Overworkis whatcharacterises
women's lives in these poor urbansectors.
The same domestic responsibilities, the
difficultyto reassigndomesticchoresamong
other family members and restrictionsimposed by men, all limit women's capacityto
join paid work. To be able to join paid
working activities they are forced to find
activities which make domestic and paid
work compatible. Informalactivities offer
mote flexibility in termsof space and time,
althug-h incomes generated throughthem
are low.
Summarisinig,the study remarksthat the
relationheldbetweenwomen andpaidwork
cannot be understood without taking into

account the global context which determines the exclusion and poverty of these
families. It should also be understood by
taking into account the existent division of
labour which limits their insertion into the
labourmarket.Women'spositionin the family andtheirclass conditionsituatesthemin a
vulnerableposition in relationto paid work.
The combinationof paid workwith domestic
tasks ultimatelyreinforceswomen's dependentpositionwithinthe family.
Thus the authorsconclude women's subordination is absolute, and ever-present in
any area where women work. The sexual
division of labour and class factors work
togetherto reinforcetheirsubordinationand
exclude them from the labour market.
Their conclusions are in agreement with
the scope of my article, since they attribute
explanatory potential to structural conditions, in this case unemployment, poverty
andthe existing sexual division of labour,in
understanding women's insertion in paid
work in the informal sector. Although I
agree with the above points, the Diaz and
Hola study also concludes by suggesting a
perspective which apparently comes out
from the analysis, but which was not incorporated as insights of the analysis itself. I
think this is a significant and distorting
oversight, since it is precisely thatperspective which guided their research.
The study stresses in its own conclusions:
A certainnon-predictedeffect of women's
incorporationto paid work, the value acquiredin the publicsphereandthe capacity
whichcomesout fromtheirpraxisto change
the ideologicalcontentsof theirsubordination: women have broadenedtheir self-esteem,the rangeof theirsocial relations,and
the controlover theirown lives [Diaz and
Hola 1988, p 373].
These factors, as the authors themselves
state, would virtuallycondition a change in
their previous circumstances, yet the authors do not follow up their own lead and
leave this point dangling, without examining it critically. It appearsas an incidental
conclusion, because as a perspective it was
not incorporatedinto the analysis itself.
On the contrary,the Diaz and Hola study
emphasises a particularfeature of women
informal workers,the fact that they appear
to be trappedin a continiuityof chores, in
which domestic andpaid work aremixed up
in the working space (the home), in the
meansof productiod(domestic),in the labour
force incorporatedand in the consumption
(the family). Women in the domestic space
merely go fromone task to another. Domestic andpaidworkareenrneslhed
in one inextricablewhiole.Thisplaceswomenin a situation
of self-exploitationandsees themas incapable
theirrole as workers.
of assunming
In this study there is reference to s;ome
informal activities women develop which
could imply wider choice and a change in

Economic andi Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

life-style consciously chosen by women,

particularlyin relationship to those classified in self-employment(suchas streetvending), in which women would be privileged
to have more freedom and have some flexibility due to the security of a regular income. This aspect of women's options are
in fact not explored by the study.
On the other hand, in cases where women
are involved in trading strategies, where
women need to leave home and therefore
thereis a physical separationbetween work
place and the domestic place, this is described by the authors solely as another
element of tension in women's life, "....who
would suffer additionallybecause they cannot take good care of the household, and
propercare of their children" (p 370), although there is also a mention of situations
in which women take some of their domestic chores to theirworkplace. Such flexibility does not really add any new insights to
the perspective with which this particular
activity is seen. The fact that being selfemployed, women can to a much larger
extent control some of the dimensions of
their work such as time and space, is not
analytically distinguished from other ways
in which women are inserted into informal
activities.

some specific experiences.

In spite of the fact that the group of
women was diverse,certainsimilaritiesthat
I will endeavourto show appear.I have been
concerned with capturingthe particularity
of women's experienceby portrayingsome
events thatoccurredin specific situationsto
specific women. I have tried to keep a
balance between a minimum account of
women's experiences and the development
of theirnarratives.The text has thecharacter
of an essay built upon women's voices.
Eachvoice is separate,andat the same time
all the voices constitute anothercollective
voice, showingtheparticularityofwomen's
lives and their similarities.
From all this informationI have chosen
the most relevanttopics to addressthe questions of this paper. These are:(a) Women
migratingto thecity; domestic service, usually theirfirst workingexperience;(b) Reasons for going to the street (women tend to
become street vendors when men do not
fulfil the role of breadwinners,either due to
desertion, unemployment or low earning
capacity); some advantagesstreet vending
offers women; why women choose street
vendingwhen they areforcedto generatean
income; (c) Fromthe home to selling on the
street: what women first feel; the shock of
entering the public space; (d) How women
IV
get started-women's socialisation is a
The Interviews
source of knowledge to be applied in the
I attempthere to analyse seven interviews vending activity-women also learn by obcarried out with women street vendors in serving other vendors-how neighboursor
Santiago,Chile's capital. I did four of them relatives help; the solidaritypresentamong
myself one and half years ago, andthe other vendors;(e) How women feel streetvending
three were by a colleague this year, in an- can be successful; how women themselves
other part of the city. Based on the same defimean effective sales profile; what they
questionnaire, the interviews are of two draw from their experience in selling; (f)
types, limited andextensive. The ones I did Howtheexperienceof streetvendingchanges
are extensive. This meant the women I women's, personalities and self-image,
talked to were encouraged to talk freely empowering them; (g) How generating an
aboutwhatevertopics they chose to expand income changes women's lives, their relaon. The interviews by my colleague were tionshipwith theirpartnersandchildren;(h)
briefer. I felt the short interviews would Theirown income, theirown autonomy;(i)
give me insights into the contents I wanted Women's income; (j) The difficult relationto explore, while the longerones would also ship with the authorities;(k) The obstacles
help me place these contentsinto a narrative to street selling activity: how household
context, better illustrating my contentions chores and police persecution both restrict
in this paper.
women's mobility; and (1) The street, a
The text is organised trying to follow the space of socialisation for women.
sequencewomen themselvesgave theirtales.
STREETSELLINGAREAS
I decided to use the women's own words,
even, for example, where their use of gramThe women interviewed have all been
maris deficient, in ordernot to detractfrom street vendors for some length of time,
the richness of their testimony. Unfortu- rangingfromtwo to 40 years.They sell their
nately the local tone is somewhatlost, as the wares in two geographic areas of greater
transcripts of these interviews had to be Santiago, Apoquindo and Irarrazaval.
translated.
Apoquindo is a high-income sector, with
This limited number of interviews does big andmodernshoppingcentresandmolls.
not allow drawingconclusions oreven mak- Streetsellershavegraduallyconqueredspace
ing generalisations, and therefore I cannot outsidetheregularshops. Theydisplay their
claim this testimony to be representativeof merchandise on the covered walkouts of
all Chilean women's experience in street commercialbuildings.None of the vendors
selling. My aim is rather to examine an located in this area have no legal permisadditional,enhancing dimension, based on sion. The merchandisethey sell is diverse,

Economic and Political Weekly October 30, 1993

mainly clothing and handicrafts and imitates the style of the articles sold in shops,
prices are lower because of poorer quality.
Street vendors are constantly being persecuted by the police, particularlyduring periods of increased demand (peak periods
such as Christmas).Inside the centres themselves guardsusuallykick vendorsout of the
main entrances, but they cannot fully control the public spots used by vendors. Customers of street vendors are usually highincome people who make use of the informal sales structure.Vendors work in shifts.
Some work by daytime and others at night
when the regular shops are closed and the
place becomes like a 'boulevard'.
Irarazaval is a middle-income sector. Its
buildings, houses and commercial areasare
mucholderthan Apoquindo. Streetvendors
are located along both sides of this main
avenue, which is a very commercial, congested area. In this sector some vendorsdo
have legal permission and they have either
fixed or mobile stalls. Illegal vendors usually build very light tables made out of
boxes and pieces of wood from which they
sell their wares. Street sellers start their
activity aboutten or eleven in the morning,
after the stable shops open, and end their
activities when those shops close.
Irarazaval has been occupied by street
vendors for a much longer period than
Apoquindo. Street vendors settled in the
area around the grounds of an old food
market.It was demolished about five years
ago in order to build a new commercial
centre, but the new centre has not been built
vet.
This main avenue is being repaired and
-rebuilt,making it hardto use the sidewalks,
which has caused a depression in commercial activities. New vendors no longer feel
attractedto this sector. Manyof theprevious
streetsellers have also gone, althoughsome
of theoldest, who have been selling therefor
several decades, are still to be found here.In
spite of the depression the number of vendors increases dramatically during peak
periods. Thenthey organise themselves and
make pressureon,the authoritiesto let them
work,usually reaching agreements. During
normal periods vendors are constantly being harassed by police. The merchandise
sold in this sector is also very diverse, more
variedthanin Apoquindo. It includes spare
pieces, tools, clothing, foods stuff, toys,
some light furniture,etc.
WUomen
from Irarazaval
Carmen,38 years old, married. She lives
with her husband and their five children.
She went to school for six years and then
migratedto the city ata very young age. She
worked as domestic servant until she got
marriedand has been a street vendor for 10
years now. She started as an ambulatory
vendor, selling 'tostadores' (bread toasts),

WS-75

as a domestic servant,a destiny that seems this kind of work in relation to other activities carried out previously.
to be ingrainedduring their childhood.
They(herparents)wantedmeto work,that's Advantages in terms of money:
all, because people in the countrysideare
No, I used to work but I really eamed too
like that,theonly thingthey aspireto is that
little, I couldn't pay the rent,electricityor
theirdaughter,especiallya daughter,comes
water.(Aida)
to workas a servant,and moreso in those In terms of availability:
days;well,nowpeoplearea bitmoremodem
I workon my own thingand I'm not sitting
in ruralpartsandthey are moreinclinedto
around waiting for a salary, waiting for
give theirchildrenstudies,but not before,
month'send to have money ... becauseif I
parents mainly sent their daughters to
need money I just workall day and simply
Santiagoto work-as soon as they grewup a
solve my problemswithmy sales. (Alicia)
bit, andthatwas all. (Maria)
And in terms of autonomy:
Domestic service is generallyinterruptedby
I didn'tuse to workindependentlyand now
women aftermarriage.They returnto paid
I workindependently,
somehoursI workand
work latcron in theirlives, when for differif I don't wantto workI don't. (Aida)
cnt reasons they enter street vending.
I wantedto be independent,also becauseI'm
Poor women are forced to generate an
alwayshavingto go see the doctor;I used to
income in orderto supporttheirfamilies. In
say, employersarealwaysrefusingyou permanycases the decision to takepaidworkis
missionto go see the doctor... all thatmade
based on a critical situation, in which men
me stay in this because here I'm my own
boss, I don't have to ask anyonefor permisare not playing the role of breadwinners.
sion. (Maria).
He wound up in the hospital andI had no
way to pay for his treatmentand that's how To quit domestic service is also a matterof
I got startedin this, I would earnsomething dignity:
Well, it was humiliating,they treatedme
in order to take him a bite to eat to the
verybadly,theyneverdidanythingto please
hospital, a bit of meat. (Carmen)
me. (Graciela)
Andthenwe wentto live on ourownandmy
Illegal activities, like the unlicensed sellhusband ... would get home very dnunk, he
wouldalwaysbe drinkingwitha friendand ing thattakes place on the street, are associhe no longergave me the things I needed, ated with people in desperate need due to
thenI was forcedto do this. (Abelina)
theirpoverty. Women in one way or another
Hedidn'thaveajob,andhe hadto acceptmy also bear these ideas in mind when they go
way, that'sall. (Isabel)
out selling. They have mixed feelings about
I hadto do it becausehis salaryjust wasn't doing it, fluctuating between the fear of
enough. Andlike this we could at least eat workingillegally andthe shame of showing
well. (Graciela)
their hardshipsin public:
When jobless men attempt to sell on the
I used to feel shame, I felt people bought
Womenfrom Apoquindo
street,orjoin women who arealreadydoing
from me because they were sorry for me.
Graciela, 30 years old, separated, lives so, they do not always succeed:
(Aida)
How could you work-if you have never
with her three-yearold son. She is from the
People I knew would pass and I'd turnmy
worked?,askedmy husband.Justgoingout
capital and went to school'up to the eighth
head so that they couldn't recognise me.
on the street,everythingis possible,I told
grade. She workedas domestic servant,and
(Alicia)
him,andthenhe startedto helpme out. For
afterwardsstartedselling on the street. She
That
first day I came here I wantedto cry
him it was moredifficultto get along with
sells hair clips that she makes herself. She
because I'd never seen myself doing this,
because
people
he
always
has
been
prouder
has been street selling for eight years.
selling. (Maria)
thanme. (Carmen)
Isabel, 45 years old, is marriedand lives
You're scaredof knowing yourself out on
He beganto sell everythingthatI sell now,
with one of her fourchildren,a granddaughexcept bras, because he felt embarrassed the streetand that you can be arrestedany
terandhersick husband.She was bornin the
moment...you work scared because your
aboutthat,my husbandis very, very calm,
city and did only first grade at school. She
thingsmightbe takenawayfromyou,andthe
he's super-calm,so hisbusinesswentsupergot marriedat twelve and then worked as a
fineis expensiveandon topof that,youlose
he
wouldn't
badly,
and
I
sell,
would
become
domestic servant. She has been selling on
everything,so you'realwaysin fear.(Isabel)
of
his
desperate
not
selling,
the
when
the streetfor 15years.She sells "novelties'.
I didn'tdareto call out 'salads',afterwards
'carabineros'
(policemen)camebyhewould
At the time of the interview she was selling
one stopsbeing ashamed.( Abelina)
just go home,he didn'tstayaroundlike the
winter gloves.
The naivety and vulnerability with which
rest ofus do and wait forthem to leave ... he'd
Aida, 42 years old, separated,lives with
just go homeandsometimeswe didn'thave migrant women arrive in the city is not the
her only son and his wife. She migrated to
the barenecessities.(Alicia)
best way to face the,lhardsliipsof the big city.
the city after almost completing secondary Male and female strategies to cope with
You know, I would cry when I went out
school. Earliershe workedas a secretaryfor crises take different directions:
offeringthese tosties. I wasjust a girl then,
a lawyer, in an assembling section of an
Oneday I told him,tryto findworkeven if
I was 24. People fromthe $outharealways
army factory, and at a hospital as a nurse's
it's in constructionbecausewe can'tgo on
morenaive,I wasreallyjusta girl.(Carmen)
assistant. She has been streetvending for 18
living like this ... I toldhimI'd go andsell...
When you've just arrivedfrom the south,
years. She also sells novelties and at the
you bringthingssometimesandsometimes
you don'tknowanybody...I neverwentqut
time of the interview was selling gloves.
you bringnothing.(Alicia)
anywhere...it seemedto me thatI wouldbe
A pattern which is recognisable in the Amidst the narrow range of choice these
rejected,b'ecausepeopleinthe southarevery
interviews is that poorly educated women womenfeel theyhave,they arealso awareof
open,even if you don'tknow someonepermigrateat a young age to the city. Women's possible benefits they can reap from street
sonallyyou talkto them,andit isn't likethat
firstworkingexperiencein thecity is usually vending. They compare the adlvantagesof
here.(Abelina)
thln changed to chopped vegetables. She
has always been selling in the same areabut
on different corners, and is now located in
front of a big supermarket. She has no
immediate neighbours. Though some vegetable sellers work other corners, they are
not used to clustering together.
Alicia is 39 years old. She lives with her
husband, their son and daughter. She migrated to Santiago when she was 14. She
worked as a domestic servant in several
wealthy homes until her first pregnancies.
She has been in streetvending for five years,
always selling male and female underwear.
'Maria, 43 years, single mother of one
daughter.She lives alone in a room, as she
separated from her partner recently. She
finished third grade and then became a
domestic servant in the south, migrating to
the city with the family she worked for.
Latershe worked in a small garmentworkshop. She has been street vending for three
years and sells costume jewellery.
Abelina is married and has 14 children.
She migrated to the city and worked as a
domestic servant until she got her second
child. She has been selling in the areafor40
years and is the oldest street vendor in the
area. She sells chopped vegetables. She
never went to school. Most of her children
have also worked with her. She taught
selling to her son's wife, who now sells
choppedvegetables on a cornerclose to her.
She lives with her husbandand one daughter, who usually help her to shopp and
preparevegetables.

WS-76

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

Once on the street, the women's task is to

learn the job. Women's socialisation is a
fundamental source of knowledge to be
applied in the activity:
I've learnedit by looking, becauseI notice
everythingsince I waslittle, I was reallyan
intrudersince way back,I was alwaysin the
mniddle
of everything,if they were making
breadup there, I'd be there, if they were
makingpies, there I was seeing how they
nmade
them, how to make the filling, what
wentinto it, all that.(Abelina)
For some women, socialisation is equivalent to 'inheriting abilities':
Whathappensis one is bornwithsomething
of a merchantinside. We used to have our
own businessbefore, so ever since I was a
little girl we weremerchants.(Graciela)
The information women need to know in
order to be able to sell, they can acquire
throughobservation:
SometimesI'd follow the vendorsaround
and then I'd ask and ask until I foundout
wheretobuythemerchandiseandthat'show
I worked.(Aida)
Well, I used to watch the others. Since I
watchedhow otherpeoplesold, I learnedto
do it, just fromlooking at them patiently,I
wouldaskquestionsandthat'showIlearned
to caterto people, little by little. (Maria)
Although the street environment is highly
competitive, it is possible for newcomers to
get help from relatives or other vendors in
startingtheir own trade.
...thensince she alreadyknewthe pricesmy
husbandhad,she wouldtellme,thisis worth
so muchandgo on helpingme, in the afternoon when he came to fetch me I already
knewthe prices.(Alicia)
At firstmy sister,whenI beganselling coin
pursesI wouldgo out withher,becauseshe
was the one who workedaroundhere, she
knewhowto buymerchandise,I hadnoidea,
I hadneverdoneit before...she knewwhere
it wascheaper,or moreexpensive,theprices
othervendorsgot,wheretoget whatI needed
andso on. (Maria)
How TOBESUCCESSFUL

After streetselling for sometime, women

discover some secrets of the business. They
find out how they should sell in orderto be
successful. They learnthereis a certainway
of presenting themselves, an image they
want to achieve, and how to offer the merchandise in order to attract and convince
customers.To always keep the same profile
also helps them be recognised by theircustomersaferhaving had to runaway from the
police. The profile of a good seller is perceived as a continuity that goes from a
woman's personalcharacteristics,the treatment she gives hercustomers, andthe product she is offering.
Onehasto havepersonality,be niceandneat
andtakecareof one's appearance,onehasto
be polite with customers,becausethenone
sells more.(Aida)
One hasto have charm,if one is going to be

Economic and Political Weekly

hardor stubbornone doesn'tget anything.

(Carmen)
Beingbravemorethananything,tohaveguts
as theysay,becauseif oneis shy,onedoesn't
get anywhere,because nothing is being
risked.(Isabel)
When selling, food is involved, the way
merchandise is presented becomes very
important;
Beingpolitewithpeopleis important,
taking
good care of them,havingeverythingnice
and fresh,the salads,not lettingthemkeep
fromonedayto thenext,notlettingthingsgo
sour;I do everythingI can, for example,to
takecareof my vegetables,if I hadleft over
salad,I wouldneverbringthat.(Abelina)
It is also a matterof being carefuilto maintain a good image in front of their customers:
Personality,that'swhatyou needto treatthe
public,if someonemistreatsa customerthat
same customerwill tell others, and then
she'll simplyleave andsay, I don'tlike this
woman,I won'tbuyfromherbecauseI don't
like her.Butthatdependsononeself,on how
youofferyourproducts,on thewayyou trap
yourcustomers,as they say. (Isabel)
Once the vendor establishes a reputation
andan image, thenthe problemof having to
move from one place to anotherwhen running away from the police becomes less
serious:

Theylook for me whereverI am, yesterday

I was runningfromsome 'carabineros'and
there they were, right after me ... because

theyalreadyknowmywork,thewayI work,
theyknowthe presentation
I have,thenthey
look forme, so manyyearsaroundhere,it's
not one or two years,it's my whole youth
I've spentaroundhere.(Abelina)
Theyseekmeout,forexample,onedayI was
takenprisoner,one Saturdaythey askedthe
lady who sells here,and she says they told
her they neededto buy from me, because
whatI sell is good, 'I alwaysbuy fromher
becausewhatshe sells is good', so the lady
hadto go andbuy somewhereelse, but one
getsknownaroundhere,theyknowwhoyou
are fromthe merchandiseyou sell. (Alicia)
For women who cannotrely on buildingan
image and upholdingit as time passes, the
solution is to be awareof whatthe fashionis
and to react as quickly as possible to the
changes in the market. These women are
very concerned about offering quickly the
new productsthatget placed on the market
without delay:
We practicallyworkall the time withfashion, everythingnewthatkeepscomingout...
whenyouworkwithnoveltiesyou'realways
involvedwithnew stuff... it dependson the
capacity you have, the merchandiseyou
offer,thatyoucanget ridof itquickly.(Aida)
Opinions differ as to wlhetherthere is merchandise thatis easier or harderfor women
to sell:
Costumejewelry is sold betterby women
than by men, also underwear,haiirstuff,
combs,thingslikcethat.(Aida)

October 30, 1993

There's merchandise that sells and merchandise that just doesn't sell, and it doesn't
matter if you're a woman or not. (Isabel)

In some cases, though, the difference between male and female vendors is fixed by
their different capacity to transportmerchandise,which eventuallydeterminestheir
income:
There are men who sell merchandise on the
street, take for example oranges, apples, all
those things, men sell these better because
they can walk around with them, but in order
to do so you have to have something to keep
things in, a tricycle, a wheelbarrow, then
they can sell a lot more, they even sell
pumpkins, things like that ... I could neverdo
that here because it's too much effort to carry
around so much weight. Here I bnng only the
minimum I have to, whatever I can carry.
(Carmen)

As time goes by andexperiences accumulate, women become aware that they can
acquire and develop certain techniques, to
help them keep their customers.
'Just try it out' means it doesn't matterif she
buys, I'll take care of heranyway, and I'll tell
her the prices, but she doesn't have to feel
obliged to buy... because since women don't
usually keep money they can be shy, or
scared, or they don't know if the person is
rude, and they don't dare to ask, but if you
talk to them, chat them up, then they ask you
and they might say, 'well, I don't have the
money now, but I'll see what I can do and I'll
come back'. (Maria)
Well, I never shout, I don't... if for example
a lady comes and says, 'lady, show me that
glove', yes, M'am, which glove do you want
to see, if she doesn't like it she doesn't like
it, let's see, wait, 'show ine your hand', and
she shows me her hand and then this one
doesn't fit her, this one does, this one fits but
she doesn't like the colour, and she says
show me this other one. You have to be
patient, of course, at all times. Don't worry,
M'am, just jumble around, look around, you
have to make people trust you ... you know,
I buy from you, they say, because you're
patient, you have a good temper to put up
with old women, they say. Suddenly I may
not have any patience left, but I conceal it, if
not I don't sell, and what interests me is
selling. (Isabel)

Women state thatknowing liowto manage

money is very important,more so since they
need to keep a finely tunedbalancebetween
their household amidbusiness needs:
You have to know how to have capital and
profit, how to calculate all that and take out
enough for food, because if you spend everything you earn during the day for just one
day, what will you do to provide forthe next
one? (Aida)

Learningto lhandlemoney is also alternative

trainingfor illiterate women:
I had no schooling, I don't know how to read
or write, look, sometimes I just do my accounts in my memory, I don't even know

how to writewitha pencil,butI'll figureout

my accounts in my head quick;ly .... with

WS-77

what I sell, then I guide myself by the business itself, by what I sell, by what I spend on
purchasing, so the business itself guides me
in my accounts, and I figure costs out and
keep adding. (Abelina)
CHANGING
RELATONSHIPS
You get harder... since you work with all
kinds of people...then you get tougher, in
every sense that is... it's positive because
now I concentrate on my son and myself,
since nobodybothers about me Idon't bother
about anyone else either. (Aida)
One does get tougher ... one has suffered

many things and sufferingmakes one get

harder.(Isabel)
...thatwasjustlackof character,butnow,no,
I havetoo muchpersonality,nowit's different, now I'm not embarrassedby anything,
beforeI usedto be very,veryquiet.(Alicia)
The hardships women encounter through
street vending provides them with the capacity to fend for themselves:
Not just anyone cannot respect me ... I know

howto defendmyself,beforeI didn'tknow

how butI've changed.(Alicia)
These same self-defence tools must also be
applied by the women on the street itself.
That is, they have to know when to use
aggressive language that could intimidate
their antagonists:
No, one has to be quick with neighboursat
any moment.For examplesomeonecomes
andsayssomething,andrightawayyouhave
toanswer,to tellthemtoshutuporyou'llbelt
themone. Onejust hasto makebelieveto be
tougherthan one is inside, because if not
peoplecan get realmeanwith you. (Aida)
Women also find, on the otherhand,thatthe
experienceof street vending allows them to
improvetheir vocabulary.The contact with
customers lets them acquire 'social skills'
whichmay trascendto the educationof their
children.
Onelearnswithotherpeopleothermanners
to live by, otherways of behaving,even of
talking, you really change a lot in this ... I've
leamed gradually, because I don't know how
to read, but I can hold my own with any very
educated person, I can talk to them with a lot
of education ... so you learn little by little and

you teach others too, your own children,

otherpeopleeven. (Abelina)
Men's reaction wvhenwomen go to sell on
the streetis not very positive; they show fear
of women's autonomy. Ordinarilythey are
forced to accept women's work as the only
alternativeto satisfy the household's needs,
but they will still not like it.
He didn't want me to work-because this
meantI was my own boss,thenhe wouldsay
thatI wasmyown boss... buthe hadtoaccept
it like that,becausehe wasn'tsupportingine
either.(Isabel)
Formanymen the streetis not the rightplace
for women:
Ah, he said, youj'llget all ordinaryout on the
street, because the people on the street are
ordinary.(Alicia)

WS-78

He didn't like it, but he had to accept it

because he wasn't giving me anything either.
(Graciela)
Sometimes men will demand to get a share
of the women's salaries, and the question is
hiow to stop this; women have to fight for
their emancipation on a daily basis:
Before he'd give me problems because he'd
ask me formoney fordrinking,buthe stopped,
I told him 'this is it, you've never given me
a cent, you've never contributed with anything and I won't keep giving you money'.
(Abelina)

creamor spend it and having to thinkthis

moneyhasto be formilk,forthechildren,or
whatever.(Alicia)
WOMEN'SINCOME

The use of theincome generatedby women

in streetvending,most of the time is entirely
directed to covering household needs. The
fact that the activity is illegal limits their
capacity to invest in merchandiseandmake
the business grow. Thus theirmain concern
is to hold on to the capital, and this znly
allows themto replace themerchandisethey
The relationshipbetween women and their sell and to get some range of stock. They
husbandscan changedrasticallybecause of have to figure out how to collect money to
their selling on the street; a woman beaten pay bills and buy food for the family. The
by her husbandon the street, will find the balance of that is something women solve
strengthto counterhis violence also on the day by day:
street:
I sell suchandsucha quantity,butI setaside
With my husband I've had a lot of trouble,
enoughto eat, for the next day, andI spend
because he likes to drink and he's jealous ...
therest.oftheanoneyon merchandise.I don't
once he hit me here and a 'casera' (customer)
live fromday to day because I try to save,
comes and tells me, -don't let that dirt of
because sometimes there are not enough
yours hit you, look at that, here you are
colours,andthis meansI haveto havestock
working and he comes to beat you up at work,
storedaway. And when I have to pay my
here, get him, she told me, and get the goods
rent,I have to save a bit every day, for the
on him, and see if you can't get rid of all his
electricity,for water,for gas. So I set aside
bad ways', and that's just what I did...
somethingevery day. (Aida)
When I was on the street I never called his
SupposetodayI sell five or six thousandand
attention to anything, and he used to really
I have to have lunch from that, to have a
insultme, he would say the worstthings, then
snackandthenthe bits left over,the tails,as
one day I really felt bad, the worst I've ever
I caUthem,I save thoseup in orderto work.
felt, and I hadn't done anything to him, and
(Carmen)
that time I said, 'either he kills me or I kill
To determinehowmuch income theyearn
him'... I had him lying on the floor when my
is not an easy matter. Women do not meagirls came in and said, 'mommy, don't'... it
sure their profits in terms of quantity,they
was the girls who took the stick away from
would
not even have a clear idea of how
me.
much this is, not only because their income
Ever since that time he's never raised his
is-highlyirregularbut also because both the
hand-at me again, because if he starts bothhouseholdand business money appearto be
ering me I say, 'there you are, starting up
mixed
up in the same pot. For women the
again', and then he calms down right away,
extent of their profit is equivalent to the
that man is afraid of me, he really is ... when
I beat him up it was as if I'd been reborn extent of family needs that can be covered.
When sales are not enough andthe profits
again, I was anotherperson, with lnore youth,
arelow, women cut on the 'small pleasures'
I used to feel lik-ean old woman, the worst
they give themselves andtheirfamilies with
k-indof old woman from all that suffering.
the money they earn.
(Abelina)
Let's take Septemberand October,for exChangesin women's lives gives themthe
ample,whensalesgo down,one hasto really
sense of independenceand autonomy that
be carefuland measureeverything,be less
comes largely from generating an income
extravagant,
althoughevenwhenyou'repoor
and having power of decision over money.
you wantto have the best dish. (Carmen)
Since one rules overmoney, one can do what
When sales are good, 'splurging' on someone wants with one's money, eat what you
thing which goes a bit beyond the rigid
want when you want, but when a husband is
family budget is seen as acceptable:giving you money, things change, you have
I comehomeandI tellRodrigo,here,go buy
to tell him what you've spent the money on,
somethingto drink,ah,the kids say, it looks
and whether you spent it all. Tlhere's no
like you did well... yes, I answerthem,once
freedom then, this is a different kind of
in a while you have to give yourselftreats,
freedom because the money belongs to you,
andwhenI've putaside the moneyforwhat
and nobody else has to control it. (Isabel)
I haveto buy I give myself treatsbecauseI
Once women can generate theirown income
have to do so. (Alicia)
it becomes suclha conquest for them it will
I nevermakeaccountsof whatI earn,butit's
be hardfor them to give it up:
enoughto live by, anddressandpay for my
I'm used to having my own money and doing
expenses,so I'mcontentwiththat.(Graciela)
what I want, it would be horribly hardfor me,
I think, to be waiting for F-ridaysfor him (the
It's relative,becausesometiinesyousell and
husband)to give mlemoney,andnothaving
sometimesyou don't sell. I never keep a
any otherwise,il i wantto have some icerecordof how muchI sell. (Aida)

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

Many times the income generated by

women is considered secondary, because it
covers the rangeof needs thatis not covered
by men's salaries; it is difficult to accept
thatit is secondary, since both incomes are
equally important because together they
constitute the family's survival. It is also
the case thatwomen's income is essential at
times:
He knows and he acknowledgesthat most
expenses I provide myself, because very
oftenheearnsless thanI do, becausehe's not
a foremanor anythingin construction,he's
justa plainworkerandhe doesn'treallyearn
much.(Alicia)
I can'tverywell stop,becausewe don'thave
manythings,there'snothingsometimesand
I'mnotinthe habitof notbringingsomething
home, every day I pass by here and I buy
sugar,tea, groceriesfrom the store, pasta,
rice, all those things, and if I should stop
working that would stop and I'd eat my
capital,then I wouldn'thave the meansto
work.(Aida)

that they have to be constantly aware of

police presence,a tense andstressfulfeeling
which theymustlearnto live with.They also
have to learnhow to recognisethepolice and
the inspectors,how to runawayon time and
save their merchandise:
Before I neverrecognised who was acivilian
or a first-degree "'carabinero", who was a
lieutenant, I had no idea how to tell them
apart, or the cars they drove around in.
(Alicia)

Slowly andthroughcarefulobservation,the
police and the inspectors become more
familiar to women.
One starts to look at the carabineros and see
familiar faces, and to recognise the ones
dressed in civilian clothes, by their haircut,
before they used to wear special boots and
you could tell them apart from the boots ...
the ones with boots you really had to be
afraid of, that's how I started to distinguish
the lieutenant and the inspectors' van, and I
began to recognise the inspectors and that
environment. (Alicia)

nothing left, I had to borrow money to start

again...so I'm always the same, Ijustbuy and
sell ... that limits me because when people
see a lot of merchandise people buy more,
when they see you don't have much people
don't get excited enough to buy. (Alicia)

Police presence imposes its own rhythm to

their working time.
You never know until when you can stay,
there's no fixed time limit. I may be here
until nine,but Imay not be here atallbecause
the "carabineros" arrive and I have to make
a run for it ...then we have to wait a while to
see if we can work again, and sometimes we
end up just leaving, that's all. (Isabel)
I get home and I startmaking things and then
I stay till about five in the moming, and all
the people around here do the same, and then
until five, I sleep an hour and I come again,
around one o'clock, around twelve sometimes, and now I go home at around six or
five, before the 'carabineros' come, because
they are about to come at thattime. (Graciela)

The presence of the police may mean closAnd of course, along the way, the women ing a space for women's lives and opening
RELATONSHIPwiTHAUTHORITIES
leam some techniquesto run away from the anotherone.
The time spent at home by women apWithout any doubt the persecution suf- police. To recognise andidentify the police
to be an open and elastic stretch in
pears
beforehand
but
it
is
not
helps,
always
posfered by vendors is their main problem.
which domestic chores capture a great deal
Even though vendors would be willing to sible to escape. Being caught by the police
of women's time, but domestic chores and
pay taxes, legal permission is constantly is nearly a mandatoryritual for vendors.
the chores carried out in order to get paid
denied to them. Vendors work in a sort of When they first start it will happen many
work are combined in a never-ending line,
the
fear
until
will
to
times,
give
way
anger
state of war, in which repression,
task following the next one, all duties
authoritarianismand the abusive treatment and this encourages women to challenge one
done in a parallelor alternatingfashion.The
authority.
they receive from the police are their every
domestic and the public work, the paid and
They used to throw our things away, they
day reality.
unpaidtasksareintermeshed.Althoughother
would
take
them
inside
the
mark-et,
until
one
Withinthe violent frame of police represday I got really mad ... they came to take our members of the family may eventuallyjoin
sion, being women can sometimes help.
things away and I stood up and shouted, I in this work, women always appearto be the
Yes, womenare less persecutedthanmen.
said, 'no, sir, you're not taking my things
main responsible.
(Graciela)
I get up real early ...I give the children
away ... because if you do take my things
-Thepolicerepressmen harder,particularly
breakfast, I send them to school, and after
away I don't know how I'll respond, so don't
young men. In that there is an implicit
tak-ingthem to school I come home and tell
move mytable from here and I'm not moving
assumption that a marginal activity like
from here either because these things are
my husband to get up, and get the other
street vending is suitable for poor women
children up, we have breakfast and then I do
mine' ... and the policeman answered so
and old people.
the wvashing,iny other girl whose staying
rudely, 'you know what else I'm going to
Menaretreatedharder,theyaretreatedmuch
write down, that you're a Cominunist'. 'A
homnehelps to clean, I go on washing till
tougherbecause they are men, and espeeverything is ready and I leave the wash
Communist, huh?', I said to him, 'write me
cially if they are young, they say to them,
down as a Communist but hold on to your
hanging when I finish, I help make lunch, we
'guevon',whatdo you have to be doingon
eat lunch and go out and do the shopping.
uniform, you neverknowif I'ma Communist
thestreet,youshouldbeworking,workingin
if I can fly you out of here' ... finally he got
(Carmen)
somethingelse, leave this to the old women
fed up and went away, and he didn't take me
My husband helps me, when he can, if he's
who can'twork,to theold peoplewhocan't
with him or take any of my things either.
not with the children ... if he's all right yes, he
workeither.(Isabel)
(Abelina)
helps me all the time, if his health is good, but
The police's hold on power is expressed in
if he's feeling badly I just have to do everyBETWEEN
HOUSEHOLD
TASKS
AND
an attitudethatpretendsto be benevolent to
thing. (Carmen)
PERSECUTDN
women, but which is extremely authoritarMy husband (helps me) and one of the kids,
ian and violent.
The possibility for women to generatean
but sometimes he's lazy and goes out and
Well, sometimesthey say, 'listen guevona, inicome should be- understood within the
does his own things, and when he's back we
putyourselfaway,takecare,"guevona",that range of mobility given by police persecualmost have everything ready. (Abelina)
they are going to takeeverthingawayfrom tion and pressing household needs.
Hlelp from other family members does not
you', that's how they talk, and since you
The presence of the police and the assure good product quality. According to
can't answer them back calling them permamentpossibility of beinigrepressed the women their own skills and using their
"guevones",youjusthaveto hearthemout. limits the capacity of enlarging their busi- own lhands are essential.
(Isabel)
lie helps me in everything except the cabness:
Thepossibility of being arrestedis always
bage, because he doesn't know how to dice
I'm scared to risk getting more merchanpresent, as is the fear of being caught and
it either, he can't chop it as thin as I do.
dise..., what I have just like that is what I
losing their merchandiseand having to pay
(Abelina)
handle, because I'm always afraid of being
anexpensivefine, whlichl
wouldleave women
taken into custodly,once they ruinedme, Women are used to carryingout manlytasks
without working capital. WVomendeclare
becausetheytookeverythingI hadalndI had at thlesame time:

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

WS-79

SometimesI even get hometo do washing,if

there'sclothesto washI haveto washthem,
so I put the kettle to boil or the pot with
whateverI'm cooking, and while thatboils
orcooksI wash,thenI washmyhandsandgo
do whateverelse I have to do to makethe
food ready.(Carmen)
I wouldleave the saladsreadyandthenwash
everythingby hand,I have no washer,and
thenthenextdayI wouldhangit on theline,
I'd leave the lines full of clothes andgo to
work,andwhen I got homeeverythingwas
dry, I'd fold it, moistenit andleave it ready
for ironing,makethe saladsandthendo the
ironing,andthenextdayI'dgo sellthesalads
and the clothes wouldbe done. (Abelina)
I get homearound10 or 11 at night. I finish
workaroundfive orsix,sometimesI gettired
beforethisandI stopbutI startagainatnoon,
I get up at seven to tak-emy child to the
so I sleep verylittle,andwhen
kindergarten,
I'm too exhaustedI have to restone or two
days to be able to start working again.
(Graciela)
To combine housework and paid work is a
heavy burdenfor women, so the time they
spend selling is valued by them because it
affords a breakin the endless continuity of
tasks to be performedat home.
Houseworkis heavier,I reallyrestmorehere
thanwhenI'mathome,becausehereI'mjust
sittingarounddoing nothingand at home I
can't stop for a moment.(Abelina)
At times the space and time spent selling on
the street is also connected to the domestic
sphere for women:
I can't really be idle, I can't be doing
anything...duringthe winter you'll see me
knittinghere, now I'm lazy to knit, I don't
really like it, but in winter you'll see me
knittinghere. (Abelina)
I have enough time left, look at all I've
knittedwhile talkingto you... this is for the
boy,everyyearforthe18thI knitthema new
vest, I knitfor themall. (Cannen)
TheStreet: A Socialisation Space
To quit paid work could mean for women
a restriction of their socialising space,
besides theirautonomyto managetheirown
income:

I wouldget boredat home,yes, I'd get bored

beingthereall day, even if thereis so much
to do..., and eveh moreif I saw I wantedto
buy somethingand I had no money, no, I
wouldn'tquit working.(Carmen)
Now I don't want to stay home becauseit
boresme, it's such a small house.(Alicia)
This merchandisehas really done wonders
forme,withtheproblemI've had,it's helped
me as therapy,to go, buy, it keeps meentertained,that'swhatI say, in partI'mgrateful
a bit for the work I have to do ... because it's

helped me to forget, it's given me peace

becauseI get hereandjust relax, I talkwith
thegirls, I sell, I see to my customers,thenI
go do myshoppingandthatwayI keepbusy.
(Maria)
A shiortconversation, some words of en-

WS-80

couragementfrom a friend, words from the

customers, all these things are very meaningful for women: by selling on the street
they are breakingwith their isolation:
One can consult on things like this, talk about
anything, share certain problems, discuss
them, say 'look, this is happening to me, and
you get support from the others too, if you're
sad, they ask you how you are and cheer you
up. (Carmen)
He was the first friend I knew here, and he'd
give me encouragement ... say when the
"pa?os" (policemen)took me prisoner, he'd
cheer me on to continuing, say, 'you don't
have to let this get you down' ... he'd give me
strength to go on because I'd get desperate.
(Alicia)
We talk about her marriage, about me, the
problems she has, the problems I have, and
she gives me advice and I give her advice.
(Aida)

When a womanspends40 years streetvending, the relationshipsshe establishes there

could even substitute for her family:

instances this helps them to overcome their

feeling of isolation from previously having
felt secluded at home. Through street selling they get to know people, customers and
other vendors, and they learn to handle
competitiveness, jealously, and other
stresses. They also, many times, get what
they value most, solidarity and emotional
supportfrom the people aroundthem.
Womtenin Infontrl Sector
In general, the findings of this study,
coincide with and confirm the analysis of
women's paradigmin the informal sector. I
disagree, however, with how women are

viewed underthis analysis, and will go into

this furtheron.
Analysis of the paradigmof poor women
in the informal sector stresses that difficulties in enteringthe formal labourmarketare
greater for women. Tlhus it may be inferred

thatwomen are more likely thanmen tojoin

the informal sector. Women's entranceinto
the informal sector would be determinedby
Everyone here loves me, everybody here is
like my own family, and they all feel conmen's inability to provide family support.
cerned about me, when I don't come they all
Such a pattern can be deduced from the
wonderwhathappened,theyworry.(Abelina)
findings presentedin this paper. In the Diaz
When I was ill I never thought I had such
and Hola survey, it appears reflected in
good friends, they all made a collection
statistics. The participationof women in the
among them and payed my hospital bill ...
informal sector, particularlywomen heads
they've always taken care of me, always,
of household, increases within the context
when I went South for sometime I came to
of economic andsocial crises, which means
say goodby to them all and told them I
a rise in unemployment and an income
wouldn't be coming around fora while, until
decline
in lower income hiouseholds. This
I got back, and when I did return all the
situation is also described by women in the
women were happy to welcome me, they'd
interviews. Analysing how women enterthe
hug me, really welcome me as if I'd been
informallabourmarketwhen men cannotor
away for years. (Abelina)
wyillnot be the breadwinnersin the houseFinally one woman puts it this way:
hold attributesexplanatory potential to the
I've-earnedmy food, and my money with my
ideological factors which assign theresponown hands, and that's why I'm working on
the street and now, after growing old and sibility for family reproductionand subsistence to women. They arepushed tojoin the
having so many children it's not that I get
informalsector when subsistence is endanhelp from them, nobody helps me, that's
gered. The contradictionin the ideology of
destiny, you wouldn't believeit butthe people
here are better than my own family with nme, women's role, finally reinforces women in
these people are nicer to me, they even give
theirsecondaryposition as workers.Women
meclothing, I hardlyeverhave tobuy clothes,
are ultimately held responsible for repromy customers give me what I need. (Abelina)
duction and family maintenance.
The street then is for women vendors the
This is visible from the data presented in
setting in which their social relationships the Diaz and Ilola survey, where theparticiget extended, while their family relations pation of women in the informal sector
may also be transformed. It is the space in appears strongly linked to domestic roles,
whichthelearningprocess takesplace. In it, andthese very roles is whataccordingto that
previous experiences are the basis upon data sbapes a particular feature of female
which theirnew abilities are grounded.The informalworkers. The interviewspresented
streetforwomen is a space thatthey manage lherehave illustrated how often women reto conquer through selling. The illegal main in the informal activity while men go
characterof the activity connects them with on to look for betterjobs. The influence of
power structures(the state; the law repre- ideological factors, whereby women are
sentedby police persecution),andonce they associated anidlimited to the reproductive
areobliged to face tlhatexcess of power,they splhere, is also revealed in how womcn
respondwith new strategiesthey develop in express themselves during the interviews.
orderto continuein theiractivity andgenerThe paradigm used in the analysis of
ate their income.
women in the informal sector, attributesto
Women learn how to deal with a non- these ideological factors and the scarcityof
friendly environment in this fashion, and,
resourcesthe fact thatwomen clusteraround
thloughit may seem contradictory,in many certaineconomic activities andareexcluded

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

from others. That appearsto be confirmed

by the Diaz and Hola study, where in fact
womenarestatistically a majorityin the less
prosperousinformal activities.
The illegality of women's activities in the
informalsector introduces anotheractoron
the scene, the state, acting through police
repression. The state condemns the informal sector as illegal while at the same time
it is opening legal mechanisms to enable the
formalsector to operateincreasingly within
illegality, and such 'informality' is not condemned but ratherprotected.
The patriarchaland class bias of the state
is-clearlymirroredin how women talk. This
bias operates in two ways towardsimpoverished women, by being a little tolerant towardsthem because of their vulnerableposition, but harassingthem at the same time.
Such an ambiguousattitudedoes not lead to
their protection or welfare.
Up to now the findings of this paper
confirm the analysis of women's paradigm
in the informal sector. Within this paradigm, as I have argued, poor women have
beenperceivedmainly from theperspective
of being victimised, only regarded as victims of poverty and male dominance. The
validityof this argumentis confirned rather
hastily in the conclusions of Diaz and Hola
study, and its clues with respect to a certain
'unpredictableeffect in women's life as a
resultof theirexperience in paid work...' (p
373), are not really followed up by the study
itself. This is the point whereI believe more
researchhas to be done and a change in the
approachesand attitudes of researchers is
called for.

themselves the targets of oppression and

economic inequalities.

mitment. They manage to make their time

flexible enough to allow them to merge their
reproductiveand subsistence tasks with the
productive reaim.
The public and private ideology associated with the productive/reproductivedichotomy is challenged by the streetvending
activity itself, in thecase of women vendors.
As users of the street, they trespass the
dominantideology. Te formal/informaldistinction has come into question in conceptualterms, by looking at the 'formalcharacter' of an 'informal job', since these can
constitute long-term living arrangements
for some women. Let us recall here the case
of the woman who lhasbeen selling for more
than 40 years in the street, and the permanent social relationships she has built up in
consequence. An importantdegree of 'formality' can be foundin streetvending, in the
constitution of activities which evolve into
more structuredand stable economic options. The novelty here is that the 'formality' of these activities is given or constructed by people themselves.
Although dichotomies can be used as
theoreticaltools to understanda realitywhich
at first appearsto be 'unorganised', thiereis
a difficulty when the validity of these dichotomy is imposed over the same reality
these areintendedto explain as a whole. It is
under these circumstances that there is not
only the risk to lose touclhwith reality, but
also, the very real danger of constructing
another dichotomies-theory vs practicethrough this artificial separation. In my
view, researchersshould be concernedwith
situating practice and theory in constant
interaction, letting reality 'talk', and they
should not fear letting reality 'test out', and
even sacrifice, their theoretical categories.
As a final conclusion, I believe the arguments and findings developed in-this paper
warrantthat special and specific attention
be given to analysing women's work in
streetvending, focusing on thelikely confirmation of the resultingchanges in women's
subordinationpatternsthatbegin to emerge
from this case study. Looking at reality
from the perspective already developed
could give importantelements to go further
along a more positive understanding of
women in casual work.

The approachof this papershould not be

understoodeitheras an unqualifieddefence
of the informalsector and what takes place
in it. Instead;,though,looking at the limited
options atpresentavailableto women, there
is in thismarketa potentialfor struggle,and
this is whatshouldnot be keptout of sight or
out of mind. I am advocating rather an
openingupof newperspectiveswhichcould
give room to recognising the richness of
women's strategiesin making their living,
and how these same struggles change
women's lives irrevocably.I am convinced
this perspectivecan help to recognise strategies for change in women's conditions,
which is what is acutely needed.
Within the circumstances which limit
women's insertion in paid work, they also
have some room for choosing options.
Women can benefit from using these options, by focusifigon an activity which gives
them more autonomy. Once they pursue
street vending, women are breaking with
theirisolation andmakingthemselves freer
to choose. The street marketgives them a
chance to get together and strengthentheir
individual and collective identities.
Women arechallenging theirstereotyped
roles when they enterthe public sphere,and
as a consequence they are creating a space
for themselves. They arebreakingdown the
barriersdenying them access to the public
sphere. Women in the streetvending challenge cultural values and beliefs that reinforce the stereotypes(as wives, mothersand
homemakersin a confinedspace). Thusthe
street, as a physical and symbolic space,
NEED FORALTERNATIVEAPPROACHES
becomes the scenario upon which women
I did not want to focus on women's op- defy the values which reinforcetheirsuborpressive experiences in the informal sector, dination.
nor did I debate the validity of the former
The invisibility of women's work can
statement to the effect that in many situa- potentially be altered by the activity of
tions women are the poorest, or that their street vending. The prevalent sexual diviparticipation in informal activities is, in- sion of labourreinforces the invisibility of
deed,manytimes amatterof survival. What women's work. Workhas been conventionI have tried to stress in this paper,rather,is ally understood 'as paid work outside the
the need of developing alternative ap- lhome'[Moore, 1988, p43], andthe domesproaches,which do not take for grantedthat tic as well as subsistenceworkdone largely
women are condemned to be found in pow- by women appearsin different contexts to
erless positions, merely as victims. I am be devaluatedandinvisible. The same goes
proposingto regardwomen as active agents for women's taking up casual work in the
in their own economic involvement. I have informal sector: it is also unrecognisedor
arguedthatin looking atwomen's economic undervalued,especially when taking place
Notes
insertion as a fate they are condemnedto, a within the household. In thatsense, the fact
kindof twisteddestiny, we would implicitly thatstreetvending activities takeplace out- 1 This perspective could be considered closer
to the position developed by De Soto ('The
be accepting the underlying idea that the side the home adds visibility to the work
Other Path'), who emphasises the sector's
houselholdis the only safe andcorrectplace done by women.
dynamism, as it shelters people's entreprefor women. I am not proposing to move
The rigid distinction betweenproductive
neurial initiatives in trying to meet their goal
from the perspective of women, the poorest or reproductive activities becomes hazy
to escape poverty. Although I would agree
of the poor, to the opposite position of when looking at women who carryout street
globally with De Soto's perspective, I do not
romanticising womeni's experiences in veniditng.As we lhavediscussed, women's
adopt his whole perspective. De Soto topoorly paid work, since it has being already involvcmenitin streetvendingplungesthem
gether with stressing the dynamism of the
well documentedthatwomenido workunder into the productivedomain, althoughtheir
sector, identifies people's entrepreneurial
very inferior conditions in comparison to reproductiveroles may have been the startactivitics as the main cause of the existence
men, even when many of these men are ing point of thlisparticulareconomic cornand increase of leval barriersimposed by the

Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993

WS-81

4
5

state onithe sector. In other word.s,the legal

burden imposed over informal productive
units would be a blocking mechanism which
does not permit free market play. This
position coimpletely dismisses the responsibility of the development patternpursuedby
third world countries in marginalising socially and economically large numbers of
the population.
In this paper I will refer to street vending as
a form of petty trade, meaning commercial
activities taking place on the street, mostly
without legal permission, and in a more or
less fixed location (a street corner, a stadium, etc); a minimum structureis used, and
the scale of transaction is small.
For a complete account of this experience
see 'Organising Women Petty Traders and
Home-Based Producers: A Case Study of
Working Women's Forum, India' by Helzi
Noponen, 1987.
Fora complete account see Raczynski, 1978.
The following informationis based on a documentproducedbyPREALC, 'Desequilibrios
en e(Mercado de Trabajo: El Caso de Los
Jovenes en Chile', Leiva and Pollack,
Santiago, 1992.
The following information is based on a
survey of woimen in the informal sector in
Chile (Modalidades de insercion de la mujer
en el sector informal en Chile, Diaz Y Hola,
1988), which characterises women's participation in the infonnal sector. Statistical
analysis is based on the 1982 National Census, while the qualitative analysis is based
on 59 cases.

Picavet,Ruud (1989).:'The Love-HateRelasistence, Nanneke Redclift and Enzo

tionshipbetween Governmentand the InMingione (eds), Basil Blackwell, Oxford,
fornal Sector:TheCaseof Stret Vending
pp 55-91.
in Peru' in About Fringes, Margins and
De Soto, Hemando (1986): El Otro Sendero,
lucky Dips': TheInformalSector in Third
Editorial El Barranco S A, Lima.
WorldCountries:RecentDevelopmentin
Diaz, Ximena and Hola, Eugenia (1988): 'Lt
Researchand Policy, Paul van Gelderand
Mujer en el Trabajo Infornal Urbano' in
Joep Bijlmer(eds), Free UniversityPress
Mundo de Mujer, Continuidad y Cambio,
Amsterdam,pp 181-209.
edited by Centro de Estudios de la Mujer
Rackzinsky,Dagmar(1977): El Sector InforCEM, Santiago.
mal UJrbano:Interrogantes v Conttroversias,
Friedman, Michelle and Hambridge, MichPrealc,OficinaInternacionaldel Trabajo,
elle (1 991): 'The Informal Sector, Gender
Santiago.
and Development' in South Africa's InzTinker,Irene (1987): 'Street Foods: Testing
fornal Ecotnomy,Eleanor Preston-Whyte
AssumptionsaboutInformalSectorActivand ChristianRogerson (eds), Oxford Uniity by WomenandMen'in CurrentSociolversity Press, Cape Town.
ogy, Vol 35, No 3, Winter.
Leiva, Alicia and Pollack, Molly (1991):
Disequiilibrios etnel Mercado de Trabajo; Tokman, Victor (1987): 'El Imperativode
Actuar:El Sector InformalHoy', Revista
El caso de los JoventesentChile, Prealc/ILO
NuevaSociedad,No 90,July/August,Lima,
(eds), No 362, Santiago.
pp 93-105.
Mac Ewen Scott, Alison (1991): 'Informal
Victor(1987):'PolicyforaHeterogeSector or Female Sector?: Gender Bias in Tokman',
neousInformalSectorinLatinAmenca'in
Urban LabourMarket Model' in Male Bias
Vol 17,No 7, pp 1077WorldDevelopment,
in the l)evelopment Process, Diane Elsm
95, GreatBritain.
(ed), Manchester University Press,
Van Der Laar,I (1989): 'Why WomenParManchester and NY, pp 104-31.
ticipatein the InformalSector:The Case
Noponen, Helzi (1987): 'Organising Women
of Ziguinchor,Senegal' in AboutFringes,
Petty Tradersand Home Based Producers:
Marginsand LuickyDips': TheInformal
A Case Study of Working Women's Forum,
Sector in ThirdWorldCountries:Recent
India' in Itnvisible lanids: Womenin Home
DevelopmentinResearchandPolicy,Paul
Based Productiont,Andrea Menejee Sinjh
van Gelder andiJoep Bijlner (eds), Free
and Anita Kelles (eds), Series Women in the
UniversityPress, Amsterdam,pp 65-79.
Hlousehold,Sage.

APPOiNTMENTS

Bibliography
Arizpe, Lourdles(1977): 'Women in the Informal Labour Sector: The Case of Mexico
City' in Wotnetnand National Developinent: The Complexity of Change, the
Wellesley Editorial Committee, University
of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 24-37.
Bijlmer, Joep (1989): 'The Informal Sector as
a Lucky Dip: Concepts and Research Strategies-&;SomeCritical Notes Based on Research on Ainbulatory Street Workers in
Surabaja, Indonesia' in About Friniges,
Marginis anudLucky Dips: The Informnal
Sector int 17TiridWorld Countries: Recent
Development itnResearch and Policy, Paul
van Gelder and Joep Bijlmer (eds), Free
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Bromley, Ray (1982): 'Working in the Streets:
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Bunster, Ximena and Chaney, Elsa (1985):
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Cartaya,Vanessa (1987): 'El ConfuisoMundodel
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Conolly, Priscilla (1985): 'The Politics of the
Informal Sector, A Critique' in Beyotnd
Employmaent: Hortsehld. GenlderanldSu(b-

WS-82

INIDIAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

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Economic and Political Weekly

October 30, 1993