‘Sweeping is women's work’: employment and empowerment opportunities for women through engagement in solid waste management in Tanzania and Zambia

Abstract

Drawing on data from Tanzania and Zambia, this paper presents research which explores the gendered nature of solid waste management (SWM) in situations where services have been privatised or franchised out to community groups and small and medium enterprises. It concludes that whilst there is evidence of a traditional gendered division of labour, with notions of ‘men's work’ and ‘women's work’, there is also evidence of challenges to these gender roles and SWM has not only offered women employment, but also enabled women to become more empowered through increasing their income and developing meaningful civic activities. These findings suggest that, although there are problems relating to work in the informal economy, SWM offers women real opportunities to improve their lives.

Keywords:

• gender
• women
• solid waste management
• Tanzania
• Zambia
• empowerment
• income generation

Acknowledgements

The research for this paper was supported by DelPHE funding from DFID. We would like to thank our colleagues at both Chainama College and Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology for their help in conducting and transcribing interviews, and we would especially like to thank our participants for spending their valuable time in sharing their insights and experiences with us.