Unveiling the Impacts of the Covid-19 Crisis : Exploring the Experiences of Women in the South African Informal Economy.

The informal economy is an important source of income for many poor people living in South Africa. But with legacies from colonialism and apartheid still lingering in society and rising levels of xenophobia, people in the informal economy are marginalized and vulnerable. In South Africa, women represent the majority of informal workers in the country, and in 2020, an estimated 57.2% of all informal workers were women. Seeing the already vulnerable position of female informal workers, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated their vulnerable position further. This thesis considers the experiences of female informal workers in South Africa during the Covid-19 crisis. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted through fieldwork in Pretoria, this research is looking into how female informal street traders navigated life through the pandemic. Supported by the theories of intersectionality and moral economy, this thesis investigates how the covid-19 crisis affected the livelihoods of female informal workers in South Africa, and what types of safety nets existed for them during the pandemic. The theories provide a nuanced and multi-level understanding of the challenges faced by women during this crisis. The findings reveal that the pandemic had a significant impact on the livelihoods of female street traders in South Africa and that an intersection of factors, including nationality, legal status, and family, contributed to the different experiences of these women. The results also show that in the absence of adequate social protection measures during the pandemic, the women had to rely on other sources of safety nets, such as the church and family, to survive. The experiences of foreign informal street traders differed from the South African nationals, seeing that they were in a more vulnerable position, lacking both legal and social protection. This research emphasizes the need for policymakers and academics to adopt a more intersectional approach to understanding the experiences of female informal workers in South Africa, to address the unique challenges faced by these women during times of crisis.