In this highly original work, Mary Njeri Kinyanjui explores the
trajectory of women's movement from the margins of urbanization into the
centres of business activities in Nairobi and its accompanying
implications for urban planning.
While women in much of Africa have struggled to gain urban citizenship
and continue to be weighed down by poor education, low income and
confinement to domestic responsibilities due to patriarchic norms, a new
form of urban dynamism - partly informed by the informal economy - is
now enabling them to manage poverty, create jobs and link to the
circuits of capital and labour. Relying on social ties, reciprocity,
sharing and collaboration, women's informal 'solidarity
entrepreneurialism' is taking them away from the margins of business
activity and catapulting them into the centre.
Bringing together key issues of gender, economic informality and urban
planning in Africa, Kinyanjui demonstrates that women have become a
critical factor in the making of a postcolonial city.