GENDER, STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN URBAN ZIMBABWE

This paper addresses the gender-differentiated effects of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) on urban employment in Harare. ESAP and the Social Dimensions of Adjustment Programme have not reduced unemployment to date and urban unemployment and gender-differentiation in the informal sector will increase unless policy measures are specifically directed towards reducing these problems. This is borne out by empirical research carried out in 1991 and 1992 in a typical low income settlement in Harare, which showed that households were not able to increase their formal or informal employment to compensate for huge increases in the cost of living in this period. Poverty levels therefore increased. Retrenchments and the concurrent drought led to higher dependency ratios and women's income generating activities were negatively affected by declining demand, increasing competition and the rising costs of material inputs.