ABSTRACT
The informal weaving sector in Algeria is generating important income for rural and urban communities, but is also challenging women’s health:women are responsible for about 90 per cent of the activities in this sector. Traditional weaving is transforming by adopting more easy-to-use tools and mechanization as awareness grows about occupational safety and rights within society.This paper provides evidence from SouthAlgeria addressing a specific,home-based,occupational health issue related to the production of a national symbolic garment (qashabiya). With globalization challenges and the economic transition that carries modern industries, the State needs to be alerted of this problem and should include in its development strategies proper legislation to accommodate women home weavers’ health and an overall inclusive growth.This is also important to save a traditional national gown and its economic role. The challenge is how to ease home-based women’s work and facilitate a
production process of better resilience (or less vulnerability)? Therefore, the main research questions addressed in this research are: 1)What types of ailment are associated with the different women’s processing activities in the production of qashabiya? 2) How have these ailments been addressed at local levels? and 3) How do improvements to their working conditions empower them, through issuing proper policies, to overcome this important health issue? We hypothesized that women home-weavers’ health is affected by a number of
occupational ailments that are not covered by the national insurance scheme, have not been properly addressed, and therefore, not treated properly.This could also be because home-weaving is not recognized as official private or state employment.
