This chapter introduces the whole study and the study area. It gives the background to the study, the research problem, objectives, economic and social significance of the study, the study design and methodology, the theoretical and conceptional framework, and the operational definitions.
It also outlines the presentation of the whole study.
The study locale is Owino Market. Owino market is located on the southern fringes of Kampala City. A mere swamp in the 1970's Owino has become Uganda's biggest market in both size and business volume. It was established in 1972 by Kampala City Council as a municipal market to cater for the over growing vendors who could not be accommodated in Nakasero Market, which was then the only city market located in the city centre.
Overtime Owino market has continued to expand with vendors constructing makeshift stalls. There were 250 stalls in 1972, but the market now has an estimated total of about 5,000 (five thousand) stalls including butcheries, eating stalls and a variety of merchandise stalls, ranging from fresh and dry vegetables, cereals, foods and hardware, new and old clothes, herbs and electronic goods like TVs, radios and telephone sets.
According to the management of the market, an estimated 20,000 people earn their living from the market either as vendors or porters and the government earns an estimated Uganda Shillings 7 million ($7,000) in taxes per month from this market.
A big number of customers flock to the market in search of low priced items leading to overcrowding which in turn provides a cover for criminals like pick-pockets, swindlers, drug busers etc.
Sanitation in the market is very poor; garbage heaps are a common sight and the water canals are usually clogged with garbage. There is only one block of toilet (one side for ladies and another for gentlemen) which the users have to pay for per visit.
In the middle of this sprawling market, the catering stalls are located. The stalls were very small 6' x 6' (six by six feet), open on the sides with leaking roofs made of papyrus and polythene papers. The stalls are very close together that at times it was difficult to see and desern the demarcation between two neighbouring stalls. Meals were prepared under similar conditions in the stalls and in the open alleys between the stalls. The stalls were furnished with a bench and a small table on which the utensils were kept.
Customers were not usually expected to eat from the stalls but from their duty stations since the catering activity normally served the vendors in the market.
The important role played by women in the economic and social development of their countries and communities; and the plight of low-income women in Third World economies has been widely recognised thanks to researchers and lobbyists.
Since 1975 (beginning of the United Nations Decade for Women) there has been a considerable shift in approach on the part of both academic research and policy makers. Researchers have moved away from a preoccupation with the role of women within the family towards an understanding of the complexities of women's employment.
Thus a number of studies on women in employment have been carried out yet most of these studies have concentrated on waged workers in factories and industries and in the formal sectors.
A number of studies have recognised the centrality of women in the informal sector (Maldonado, 1989, Tokman, 1989), see papers presented on: Group meeting of "Women Researchers in the Informal Sector and Agro-industries ATRCW/UNECA Nov. 1991 Nairobi Kenya, and AAWORD Seminar on "The Crisis in Africa and Women's Vision of the Way Out" August 1988 Dakar Senegal".)
These studies concentrated on women entrepreneurs i.e. owners of the business activities they are operating.
Only a passing, glancing, superficial study was done on the women who are employed in the informal sector.
By concentrating on women entrepreneurs, these studies have yielded few insights into the working conditions of the women who are employed in the lower sector of the informal sector.
This information will assist the government and other policy planners in formulating policies for the betterment of the women in the informal sector in particular and the informal sector in general.
The central issue in this study is the critical assessment of the working conditions of the women employees in the informal sector.
The study specifically investigates how such factors as age, kinship relations, education levels, marital status, position in household and family size affect the working conditions of the women employees in the catering economic activity in Owino market.
The study intends to examine the relationship between the employees and their employer at the work place and also seeks valid explanations for the nature of the relationship.
The study investigates how the women employees balance their household responsibilities and their obligations at the work place.
The study further examines the role of the government policies towards the informal sector and the existing social system in influencing the conditions of work of the women employees.
The general purpose of the study is to assess the working conditions of the women employees in the informal sector.
Specific:
1. To explore the nature of the employee-employer relationship and identify factors responsible for the various relationships.
2. To examine how women employees balance their household responsibilities with their job obligations.
3. To identify ways and means of increasing the bargaining power of women employees in the informal sector.
The study highlights the diversity of the informal sector, an issue often glossed over by scholars and development planners. The problems faced by the entrepreneurs in this sector are quite different from those faced by the workers.
The study gives an insight into the working conditions of the women employees and identifies specific factors affecting them.
This knowledge will assist policy makers in government and non-governmental organisation in designing practical and appropriate intervention measures for the betterment of the working conditions of the women employees in particular and for the improvement of the informal sector in general.
Given the escalating inflation, the on-going retrenchment exercise as part of the structural adjustment policy, the massive rural-urban migration, the informal sector is an important and indispensable part of the urban economy. Thus this study will not only facilitate increased awareness about the potential of the informal sector but also the awareness about the complexity of issues regarding its problems and prospects. By focusing on the issue of social relations within the catering economic activity, the study presents a clear picture of the informal sector and also fills a big knowledge gap as far as the existing knowledge on women in the informal sector is concerned.
The study also contributes significantly towards the on-going debate on gender relations.
Statistics and data on women in the informal sector in general and on women employees in particular are seriously inadequate. There is an urgent need for more qualitative and quantitative data on women in this sector if they (women in this sector) are to be assisted. This study addresses this problem.
This is a case study of women employees in the catering activity in Owino market in Kampala, Uganda. It is the employees in this section of the informal sector that this study is concerned with; since minimal research has been carried out on this aspect of the informal sector.
A number of factors influenced the selection of the catering economic activity in Owino market.
Owino market serves the middle and lower class people. The catering economic activity in this market can be put in the "community of the poor" section of the informal sector in which my interest lies. Yet the catering stalls are relatively permanent to make them researchable since the employees and their employers provided the bulk of the information and data for the study. The study utilizes heavily the observation method to investigate the relationship between the employer and employees. In the more prosperous catering activities the employers are usually absent but in Owino market the employers are present working side by side with their employees.
Owino market as a whole is dynamic with many other economic activities. Since the study had to investigate the implications of the interactions between the catering economic activity and other economic activities, Owino was the best choice.
Last but not least, I am familiar with the market and the language spoken thus I did not need an interpreter which made communication with the respondents easy.
Two factors influenced the choice of the catering economic activity:
(a) Although the catering economic activity in Owino market is in the "community of the poor" section of the informal sector it is big to warrant the employment of one or two employees. Employees are the focus of this study.
(b) The women employees are the focus of this study and the catering economic activity employs exclusively women.
The study population was:
(a) Women workers/employees (Population A);
These included all the women employed in the catering economic activity in Owino market and were remunerate for their labour in either cash or kind.
(b) The employers: (Population B):
These included all men and women in Owino market who own catering businesses and hire or employ women whom they remunerate for their labour in cash or kind.
(c) The government officials: (Population C):
Initially the study had targeted to interview officials in Kampala City Council concerned with the urban markets but these officials referred me to the market masters of Owino market. The market masters and Resistance Council Officials of the market carry out the day to day administration of the market like allocating stalls, collecting taxes and looking after the market generally.
Samples of respondents were selected according to the categories presented above.
Population A: (The women employees)
One employee from each stall was selected by random sampling.
The employees in each stall were few, ranging from one to three to warrant a complicated sampling technique. In each stall, the names of the employees were written on different pieces of papers, which were then folded. One paper was then picked. The name of the person on the paper picked would be interviewed. A total of fifty-two (52) women employees were interviewed.
Population B: (The employers)
There were fifty-two (52) operating catering stalls in Owino market at the time of the study. Some stalls were empty. All the fifty-two owners of the catering businesses were interviewed.
Population C: (The government officials)
The Market Masters and Resistance Council Officials were few and some of them were not available for interviewing. Therefore a convenient sample of three (3) Market Masters and four (4) Resistance Council Officials were interviewed.
Instruments:
Three instruments were used for data collection: unstructured interviews, in depth interview and observation method.
The unstructured interview schedule for the women employees covered the following topics:
(a) Personal bio-demographic data;
(b) Recruitment;
(c) Nature of work/concrete conditions of service including relationship with employer;
(d) Terms of service, payment, benefits etc.;
(e) Household duties;
(f) Workers organisations/associations/clubs;
(g) Problems faced/aspirations;
(h) Envisaged solutions/suggestions/recommendations.
The unstructured interview schedule for the employers covered the following topics;
(a) Personal bio-demographic data;
(b) The business - its performance, size etc.;
(c) Recruitment and terms of payment;
(d) Relationship with employees, government officials, customers and owners of other businesses in the market;
(e) Workers' associations/clubs;
(f) Problems faced;
(g) Envisaged solutions/aspirations/suggestions/recommendations;
The government officials were also interviewed using unstructured interview schedule. The instrument sought information pertaining to the administration of the market, the tax collection, allocation of resources in the market.
In-depth Interviews (with groups)
Two sessions of in-depth interviews were carried out; one with the employers who were five in number and the other with the employees who were also five. The topics covered were like those covered during the individual unstructured interviews but in this case with greater details and exchanging of ideas.
Observation Method
This method was used to validate and compare information collected by the unstructured interview schedules especially concerning:-
- The setting and working condition.
- Social behaviour and social relations.
- The activities carried out especially the specific duties and tasks.
- The general management of the business.
Secondary Information
Documentation and library search focused on:
(a) Previous studies on the informal sector in general and the women
employees on the informal sector in particular.
(b) Documents in Kampala City Council offices dealing with municipal
markets.
The presentation, discussion and analysis of data was done concurrently. The analysis aimed at showing important relationships between the variables studied.
Data was categorised and broken into appropriate descriptive statistics some of which were presented in frequency tables.
Cross tabulations from the descriptive statistics for some key variables of the study were produced to show the extant relationship between these selected variables. Percentages were also used in the analysis.
A number of obstacles were encountered during the course of data collection, the major ones being the busy schedule of the respondents (the employees and employers) and the small sizes of the stalls where the interviews took place.
The employers' responses concerning their income were evasive. Despite assurances of the purely academic nature of the study the employers kept on giving evasive answers as far as their business returns were concerned. This is because they thought that such information would be used to increase their taxes.
The employees were also reluctant to answer some questions especially those regarding their relationship with their employers. This was due to the fact that the stalls were tiny and therefore there was lack of privacy as the employer was privy to what was spoken by the employees during the interviews.
The above two problems were overcome by the observation method and by the in-depth interviews.
The Resistance Council officials and market masters were also at first hostile. That academicians just use them as ladders to acquire qualifications without assisting them. I laboured a lot to explain the nature of my study and my limitations as far as assistance to the market women was concerned.
The study adopts a socio-economic approach in analysing the production process and the relations of production within the catering economic activity in the informal sector.
In this study the major actors in the production process are the women employees and their employers.
Central to this study are the conditions under which the production process takes place and also how the major actors relate to each other. The classical economists' theories of exploitation have pointed out that the opportunity for labour exploitation arises from the confrontation between capital and labour as factors of production; that this relationship is often conceived between two unequal partners.
Also significant in this connection are the determinants of production relations, which include among others the way major resources used in the production process are owned, managed and controlled. Ideally there are two main forms of ownership of these resources namely: -
(a) Private ownership by individuals or groups.
(b) Public ownership; where all members of society supposedly have equal access to and control of the resources.
In the former, the private owners literally buy the labour power of the property - less majority, and employ it in the production of material wealth. The relationship here is presumably antagonistic because having bought the labour power and the means of production extra effort is made to extract as much surplus value as possible, through either increasing the number of working hours or by the use of the most productive instruments of labour, i.e. improved technology.
This situation embitters class relations, leading to conflicts and struggles. In formal economic sectors, industries and plantations, there are normally structures and systems instituted to regulate these relations. These include trade unions, workers committees/councils etc. This is unfortunately not the case with informal enterprises like the catering business in Owino market.
In public ownership of the means of production, the ideal is that production relations are amicable as the different categories are working towards a common good. Reality has frequently been different, evidenced by constant struggles, repressions and bureaucratization of labour unions, committees, councils and co-operatives.
This brings us to a deduction that class conflicts and struggles in the process of production are inevitable as long as there are still "employers" and employees.
The catering industry is a simple commodity production, which are characterised by individualistaion and privatisation of the ownership of production. Many producers in such simple businesses as the catering economic activity are private owners of their means of production and at the same time they invest their own labour power in the production process.
Relations of production are highly influenced by such factors as age, education levels etc. Of equal importance and relevance is the analysis of the catering activity as an integral part of a wider socio-economic phenomena, establishing linkages and associations with other business activities. The importance of this approach is authenticated by Nikotin in his analysis of the production process.
"Even the small peasant is not isolated from the world of producing his bread, he requires agricultural implements, salt, soap, made by other producers. This means... people are tied to one another, that they interact on the basis of specific relations." (Nikitin: 1983;17)
The numerous issues raised in this section provide a framework to guide the empirical analysis of the study.
1.7.1 The Informal Sector:
The international Labour Organisation (ILO) has defined the informal sector as that set of economic activities characterised by relative ease of entry, reliance on indigenous resources, family ownership, small scale of operations, labour intensity, reliance on skills acquired outside formal educational system and unregulated and competitive markets (Grown: 1989: 35)
The informal sector can be divided into 2 sections:
- the modern informal sector where goods and services produced are similar to those in the formal sector.
- the community of the poor: - this sector accounts for about 90% of the informal sector and the majority of people involved in it are women (ECA/ATRCW/88).
1.7.2 Relations of Production: These are interpersonal links between people in the production process.
1.7.3 Private Labour: where a person is recruited to perform certain tasks for a fee. The recruitment and terms of service are not based on kinship relations.
1.7.4 Family Labour: where a person is recruited on the basis of kinship ties and the terms of service are also pegged on the same relation.
The study is divided into four chapters.
Chapter One is the foundation of the study; it presents the general introduction to the location of the study area, the research problem, objectives, economic and social significance of the study, the study design and methodology, the theoretical and conceptional framework and the operational definitions.
Chapter Two presents and analyses the character and organisation of the catering activity in Owino market and the social, economic and cultural characteristics of the key actors in this business.
Chapter Three discusses the actual production process and the social relations in the catering economic activity. This is the central chapter of the study and it brings out in details the concrete conditions of work of the employees and also the struggles and conflicts between the key actors which reveal themselves in the course of production.
Chapter four summarises and concludes the study offering policy and research recommendations.
