Desperate, deceived and disappointed: women's lives and labour in rural Ethiopia and Uganda. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sender, John; Cramer, Christopher
• Is Part Of: Journal of contemporary African studies. Volume 40:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 153
• Page End: 171
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: wage labour -- choice -- violence -- gender; Africa -- Periodicals; Africa -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Africa -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 960
• DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2021.1998393
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0258-9001

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Life history interviews from Ethiopia and Uganda, organised around experiences of wage labour, provide rich evidence on the working conditions of many poor, rural women and on what leads them to work for wages. The life histories confirm and illuminate arguments based on large-scale socio-economic surveys carried out in these two countries. Further, findings from the surveys and life histories challenge an influential literature that not only celebrates women's agency in poor rural areas, but also remains committed to methodological individualism and ideas of choice. Drawing on primary and secondary evidence from Africa (and elsewhere), we insist that violent coercion and catastrophe trump maximising rational selection among alternatives; that the social is fundamental to individual behaviour; and the non-market is key to (labour) market participation. We also provide a brief discussion of the policy implications of this research.