Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
limit the growth potential of female-maintained businesses but women's
engagement in both the subsistence and entrepreneurial tiers is highly
fluid, with workers moving between the two according to processes of
gender subordination, life stage and generation.
A third tier is a haven for the
most successful entrepreneurs
, who are
also likely to be employers of insecure waged labour. The main occu-
pants of this sector could be termed 'petty capitalists', as their main aim
for establishing an informal business is the extraction of profits, which
may be greater than in the formal sector. The avoidance both of taxes
and of compliance with employment legislation such as minimum
wages, hours and conditions, attracts many successful entrepreneurs to
the informal sector. Many petty capitalists will employ casual waged
labour, including children, in unregulated conditions to produce goods
at low cost for both internal and global markets. As discussed in
Chapter 3.2, the global supply chains of many multinational retailers
can often be traced back to informal businesses in the global South.
Such elements of the informal sector are well organized, dynamic and
profitable, and now include recycling, Information Technology (IT), and
media enterprises, as well as more traditional industries such as food
and textiles.
One of the most hotly debated topics related to this part of the infor-
mal economy has been the increasing incidence of child labour in the
global South (see Chapter 4.2). Increased awareness has escalated the
issue of child labour as a priority for global institutions concerned with
human rights, social justice and civil society in the twenty-first cen-
tury. The ILO estimates that 218 million children aged 5-17 can be
classified as child labourers with the 5-14 age group constituting 166
million. Child labour takes many forms, from paid work in factories
and other forms of waged labour like street trading, to bonded domes-
tic labour and prostitution. Although a fundamental reason why chil-
dren work is poverty, child labour is also seen to be a consequence of
neoliberalism and unequal trade resulting from economic globaliza-
tion. However, many commentators argue that the concept of child
labour is misunderstood and grounded in Western notions of childhood
that have resulted in misguided policy initiatives to ban child labour
(see Chapter 4.2).
The inclusion of a fourth tier is controversial, as many commentators
argue that there is a distinct difference between the informal and ille-
gal sectors of the economy. In his original classification, Keith Hart
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