Mainstreaming Informal Employment and Gender in Poverty Reduction

This book highlights the lack of attention to employment, especially informal employment, in poverty reduction strategies and points to the links between being informally employed, being a woman or a man and being poor. It maps out the impacts on different categories of informal producers and workers, both men and women, within the context of major changes in the nature of work related to economic restructuring and liberalisation. Liberally scattered with practical examples, the book draws widely on recent data and evidence for a number of organisations, including the a global research policy network WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing). It provides a convincing case for an increased emphasis on informal employment and gender in poverty reduction strategies, and sets out a strategic framework that offers guidelines for policy-makers seeking to follow this approach.