Hausa Women in the Twentieth Century

Chapter 10: Hausa Women in the Urban Economy of Kano

10 Alan Frishman Rausa Women in the Urban Economy of Kano The role of women in urban economic activity in Third World nations has, until recently, been neglected or intentionally overlooked by planners and development economists. But women in every society playa crucial economic role both indirectly, by supporting other workers with household activities, and directly, by participating in the economic production of goods and services for sale. The first kind of activity has officially been omitted by the United Nations in its studies of Third World nations because, by definition, "women occupied solely in domestic duties are not considered as employed and therefore are not included in labor force data" (UN 1975:62). The intentional exclusion of household activity also omits those women who simultaneously carryon household duties and productive economic activity from within the house (Hill 1969). This production, which is "hidden" from view but which is quite common in Kano, will be examined in this essay. I will estimate the value of the hidden productive activity and the economic impact of women within the informal and formal sectors and thus attempt to show that women playa substantial role in the urban economy of Kano. Women in Africa participate in the open economy to a small extent in industrial activity and to a great extent in the informal sector (Fapohunda 1983: 43). In many parts of the continent, women control retailing activity and are active small-scale entrepreneurs (Simms 1981). In other areas this activity is more restricted, because of custom (women are responsible for maintaining the 192 FRISHMAN /Hausa Women in the Urban Economy ofKano 193 household) or religion (the Islamic restriction of wife seclusion) or the power of men to restrict opportunities for women. Thus women are often constrained in their labor force participation and their choice of explicit economic activity. The UN Economic Commission for Africa reported in 1975 that "the median participation rate of women considered economically active (in 24 countries with available data) is 28%; for men, it is 49%. In manufacturing, the median for women (for 19 countries with available data) is 8% of the manufacturing workers." The conclusion drawn by the commission was that women played "only a relatively small part in the modern wage employment sector" (UN 1975 :62-66), which is the part of the economy most easily measured. On the other hand, the UN report goes on to argue that "for many womenwhether married or not and whether husbands are present or not-life in towns means a struggle to get income, and the only avenues often open to them are brewing, baking, hawking or prostitution, or the acceptance of unskilled employment at low wages and sometimes poor working conditions with little job security" (UN 1975:66). This informal sector activity in urban areas is often an extension of household activity. Women are strongly represented in the activities of trading; preparing food; laundering; cleaning; taking care of children, the old, and the sick; mending, sewing, and repairing clothes; hairdressing; sexual companionship; and the production of household handicrafts (Nelson 1979:299; Simms 1981:148; Sudarkasa 1981:54; Je1in 1982: 244, 253). There are a growing number of studies that focus directly on women's informal-sector activity, which led Jelin to conclude "It is likely that the pattern in Latin America of a predominance of women in informal sector jobs and in services and commerce is also widespread in non-Muslim Africa and Asia" (1982:252). The existence of the explicit and "hidden" positions that women hold in an urban economy is highly dependent upon whether that sphere of the economy is expanding or contracting. Margaret Strobel, in her study of urban women in Kenya, argues: In Mombasa, women's work became increasingly marginalized during the twentieth century. Unlike many men, most women were not drawn into the growing sector of the city"s economy.... Women in traditional occupations faced government regulation or competition from those trained in European methods. Together with traditional skills, handicraft production that was not replaced by European imports represented a smaller and smaller portion of Mombasa's total output of goods and services. (Strobel 1979: 126) She concludes that women have been forced into household work and marginal informal-sector activity. Boserup has also argued that the evidence from Third World countries "strongly suggests that when larger industries gradually drive the home indus- 194 Part 3. Women in the Changing Economy tries...