Coping with the economic crisis: women in the Cameroon’s formal sector

Abstract

Before 1993, the living conditions of Cameroonians in the public sector were wholly favourable. Income levels were generally appreciable. However, economic reform measures occasioned by the poor performance of most economies of sub-Saharan Africa after this time saw a dramatic shift in the fortunes of many households. Draconian economic discipline and restructuring required by the Bretton Woods institutions as con ditions for continued development assistance led recipient governments to make large cuts in spend ing in the public sector. The devaluation of the local currency (Franc CFA) in January 1994 had been preceded by a 60 per cent salary cut in public sector wages, which hit all workers hard but was particularly devastating for women (World Bank 1994), a majority of whom are grouped around the lower indices of the salary scale (Vickers 1997). This is due in part to their weak social and economic position in a society that until recently did not give much importance to the formal education of girls. For this reason, women lack the necessary qualifications and skills to acquire better jobs in an increasingly tight and competitive job market. Thus, their already weak position was only rendered more precarious by the reform measures. A report of the All African Conference of Churches (1993) warned that women were already the most affected by the developing economic crisis. Their proverbial marginalization in relation to accessibility to land, education and market was further compounded by the economic and social restructuring engagements in the early and mid 1 990s (Deere et al. 1997). Against the backdrop of a low purchasing power, and an insatiable increase in the emergence of new wants, women formally well paid in the public sector had to seek alternative means of survival to confront these harsh realities. They found an answer in informal income-generating activities. This brief paper explores the different strategies that have been developed by female employees in the public sector in Cameroon according to their social and economic endowment. It also explores the different ways these women are involved in the informal sector and the corresponding effects on their life chances. The nature of the relationship between men and women in a society where women are trying to improve their living standard is also questioned.