Topic: Crossing Boundaries: Women in Informal Sector and the Quest for Space Justice

Date: 12th January, 2011

Time: 3.00 pm- 4.30 pm

Venue: BIEA Seminar Room - Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa

Presenter: Dr Mary Kinyanjui - Senior Research Fellow Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi

ABSTRACT

Nairobi city harbours formal; informal; indigenous; modern; rich; poor; local and global spaces where goods and services are largely supplied by informal economy actors. In 2006, 1.7 million people worked in the informal economy and in 2010 the number had grown to 2.2 million people. Of the over two million people engaged in Nairobi’s informal economy, about 68% of them are women. Women in the informal economy cross boundaries defined first, by their gender and second by the modernist framing of urban forms.

My survey and case studies of women in the informal economy in Nairobi illuminate the complexity of urban dynamics and the women’s creative navigation of these dynamics to realize varied aspirations. The women not only cross contour lines separating different spatial urban forms but also use strategies, technologies and ideations. Border crossing impacts on social spatial dynamics including space justice. The paper suggests that women’s resilience and aspirations in the quest for space justice be harnessed into a new social movement that will enhance social-spatial dynamics in Nairobi.

This seminar is FREE and open to all those interested in the topic.

If you plan on attending, please RSVP by emailing [email protected]

British Institute in Eastern Africa, Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa. P O Box 30710, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya Telephone: + 254 20 4347195 or 0724576600