Abstract
This work was supported by Mistra Urban Futures Abstract United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 8 focus on gender equality; decent work and economic growth respectively. The achievement of these goals requires a realization that gender parity is significant to the growth of global economies, and that meaningful inclusion of women in the labour market is a major contributor to reducing the global gender gap. Over the years, there has been an increase in the participation of women in the labour market. Despite the various measures put in place, this inclusion continues to be hampered by structural and cultural factors. However stereotypic roles and responsibilities as well as systematic structural inequalities within the labour market continue to serve as barriers to optimal involvement and participation in gainful employment. This article seeks to explore these gender related inequalities that threaten to exacerbate women’s economic vulnerability and dependence for specific localized groups of women in Kenya and Sweden. Using a framework based on structure, culture and agency, the article illuminates how these women navigate challenges presented by the nature of the job, multiplicity of roles and language as an empowering tool. Key insights from the study established that the women in the different contexts experienced similar threats and used their agency to maneuver these so as to participate as effectively as they could in the labour market. The coping mechanisms employed by these women present opportunities for policy makers and advisors in both contexts to explore in the quest to improve women’s participation in the workforce. Keywords: Gender, Labour Market, Migrants, Informal Sector, Social Networks, Agency. DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-22-02 Publication date: November 30 th 2019
Highlights
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 serves as important precursor to SDG 8 which seeks to ensure the delivery of decent work and economic growth (UN, 2015)
The proverbial “stuck between the sticky floor and the glass ceiling” (Lin and Morley, 2014) is explored in the article by acknowledging that even as SDG 5 aims at addressing some of the www.iiste.org issues that still plague the process of engendering the workforce, there is recognition that certain structural arrangements within the labour market arena, that continue to impede women’s participation in gainful employment
The Kenyan case made use of participatory methods for a focus group discussion conducted with 9 female tour guides referred to as Dunga Women in Tourism (DWiT)
Summary
The living laboratories concept acknowledges the complexities surrounding urban processes of change and appreciates the interdependence of different sectors, disciplines and cultures (Polk, Kain and Holmberg, 2013) This was the idea behind the formation of five Local Interaction Platforms (LIPs) in Gothenburg, Malmo, Manchester, Kisumu and Cape Town. In the Kenyan context, this consists of internal migration within the country as the women move to marry or join their spouses who have migrated in search of work, whilst in Sweden it is women who have come to Sweden from other countries as refugees Both groups have thereby undergone changes in their social networks, which may affect their possibilities of successfully entering the labour market. Migrants take some gendered notions of behavior with them from their home environment, whilst adopting new ones in their new country of residence increasing points of convergence
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