ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the contributions of self-employed women in the subsectors of the economy by examining why and how they establish and operate their businesses; the problems they have encountered as mothers, wives, and microentrepreneurs; and their aspirations for the future. Urban women microentrepreneurs in Zimbabwe have been some of the victims of this stratification in the global economy in the 1990s. Women working as vendors and crocheters under these conditions often reported that the government had promised to provide them with better facilities. In summer 1991, two research assistants and the author begin an intensive study of female microentrepreneurs in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The subsectors chosen were market trade, crocheting, sewing, and hairdressing, since these were areas with a high concentration of female microentrepreneurs. For women with low levels of educational attainment and skills, market trade provides one of the few options open to them when they become increasingly responsible for the maintenance of their families.
