AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	23. Family Dynamics an Migration: Tensions in Gender and Generation Relations
Paper ID	498
Author(s)	Frias, Sonia
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	Women using informal trade in Maputo as an instrument to fight poverty and promote new orders of gender and generation relations In the last decades, Maputo has experienced, along with other African cities, a continuous flow of incoming country folk. The big city begets amidst the poorest high expectations for better chances of survival. Despite hardship, those expectations seem to be coming true, at least for some of those new arrivals who devise countless solutions to improve their lives. My study focuses on immigrated women in Maputo who participate in the economic sphere of informal trade and the positive results they have been able to obtain in this sector even if their involvement in the labour world has also meant additional trouble for them. This stems from the fact that men have shown reluctance in dealing with female success, as they see it as a menace to traditional gender hierarchies in society. Domestic violence, divorce, family (enlarged) and social pressure are some of the constraints women have to deal with. Families are also facing problems with their children. Divided between traditional roots and the ambition of becoming city dwellers, younger ones show difficulties to define their own place. This dynamics is increasing tensions in gender as well in generation relations. Despite adversity, women involved in informal business have strengthened their capacity to face this kind of problems, to improve their autonomy, to negotiate and acquired professional skills, thus fostering their self-esteem, their financial independence and in the long run their access to newly defined cultural and social spaces. Living in a big city will certainly help them in their search for better personal, family and social chances.

Family Dynamics and Migration: Tensions in Gender and Generation Relations.