Abstract
The diverse nature of the informal sector has been the focus of recent studies on urban labor markets in Latin America. Field results from Quito, Ecuador, demonstrate that informal trade is differentiated by a variety of characteristics which lead to a continuum of welfare situations ranging from pure survival to well- established businesses. This internal diversity is revealed through an analysis of both productive and reproductive factors, including product supply and credit linkages, family support, life cycle, education, and household income. Female household heads account for one-third of all vendors. They frequently face dependent relationships to money lenders and suppliers which diminish potential profits and household incomes. In addition, low levels of formal education, lack of previous work experience, and little support from their families further restrict women's opportunities to develop stable businesses. Therefore, more female household heads are clustered at the lower end of the informal trade-continuum.
Keywords:Informal sector, female household heads, Ecuador, urban labor markets. production, reproduction
This paper is based on a larger research project which contributes to the current debate on the heterogeneous nature of urban labor markets in developing nations, ranges of urban employment forms, and the ways in which informal workers are integrated into the national and global economy.2 Geographers have played an important role in these discussions. For example, Bromley (1979, 1988) extensively researched casual work forms in Latin Ameriican cities and their linkage to the development process and persistence of urban poverty. Others have linked changes in local labor markets in the developing world to global processses of industrial restructuring and relocation which originated in more advanced economies (Berger and Piore 1980; Peattie 1981; Fernández-Kelly 1983; Beneria and Roldán 1987; Portes et al. 1989; Benton 1990; Lawson and Klak 1990). For many of these studies, the informal economy provided a convenient conceptual framework because it incorporates a wide range of economic activities, employment relations, and organizations of production.3
This paper researches economic links between informal trading and other sectors of the economy and examines their impacts on vendors' socioeconomic well-being. Hence, it reveals the underside of broader structures such as international and national networks of production and distribution by focusing on the individual's particular work and welfare situation. The need for establishing these links across geographic scales ranging from global to local has been pointed out by recent work in development studies and geography (Massey 1983; Storper and Walker 1983; Warf 1988; Cooke 1989; Bromley 1990; Scarpaci 1990; Randall 1992; Lawson 1992; Klak 1992). The paper contributes to these ideas and argues that an important part of identifying individual workers' economic well-being is to differentiiate along gender lines. Hence, in recognizing the need for empirically grounded research to augment and expand existing theory, I am parrticularly interested in demonstrating socio-economic differences based on gender. In this paper, I compare men's and women's distinctive work and welfare situations in the informal trade sector of Quito based on the way they are integrated into the overall economy.
Most past research on these themes has neglected gender differences. Recent criticisms have pointed towards a male bias or gender blindness of the informal sector concept, which does not consider the different demand and supply sides of women in the urban (informal) labor market such as the linkage between women's informal activities and their role in the family (Berger and Buvinic 1988; Scott 1991). This critique is largely based on feminist work which has revealed that women informal workers often play significant role in subsidizing the formal sector/capitalist economy by provid [end p. 81]ing cheap (often unpaid) and flexible labor, thus enabling wages to stay below subsistence (Safa 1981; Redclift and Mingione 1985). Studies have been undertaken on industrial out-workers, streetsellers, and domestic servants, pointing out the significance of women's role in productive and reproductive spheres (Benería and Roldán 1987; Babb 1989; Chant 1991; Fernández-Kelly 1983). Such studies usually refer to women's combined responsibilities in the household and as income earners and how this is reflected in their economic activities.
This paper contributes to these debates by comparing men's and women's different experiences in the informal trading sector. Results are drawn from field work carried out in Quito, Ecuador in 1990. Central to this research was identification of the internal diverrsity of the informal trade sector, based on its interrelationships to global and national economies. In this paper, I use the same framework and present a gender-specific analysis of inforrmal sector internal diversity. More specifically, I examine different work and welfare conditions that women face compared to men, their potentials for upward mobility, and levels of well-being; and look at how these are determined by different linkages they encounter with the formal economy. Hence, I combine an analysis of women vendors' social and economic constraints with examination of processes operating at various geographic scales, local (urban), national, and international. Particularly, I note the diverse nature of welfare conditions of female household heads. Case studies are used to illustrate and explain socioeconomic differences among women on each end of the spectrum. Previous studies on female vendors demonstrate the interrelationship between domestic and market responsiblities and the spatial and political economy of market women (Hays-Mitchell 1991; Greenow and Muñóz 1988; Babb 1989; Bunster and Chaney 1985). My research complements this previous work by comparing men's and women's different work opportunities and life chances and by identifying factors responsible for creating unequal economic and social conditions for men, women, and female household heads.
HETEROGENEITY IN THE INFORMAL TRADE SECTOR
Earlier work on the informal sector was usually characterized by approaches which viewed informal workers as a homogeneous group of people, characterized by either a benign (Tokkman 1978; Schmitz 1982; Lipton 1984; Strasssman 1987) or exploitive relationship (Gerry 1978; Moser 1978; Peattie 1981; Gerry and Birkbeck 1981) with the formal sector. Today, most researchers take into account the heterogenenous nature of the informal sector, which is characterized by ranges of urban employment forms, different social classes, and different articulations with the formal sector (Bromley and Birkbeck 1988; Portes 1985; Portes and Sassen-Kob 1987; Roberts 1989).
This paper derives its conceptualization of the heterogeneous nature of the informal sector from the previous work noted above and extends it by analyzing differences within informal trade. It is often assumed that street and market vendors face similar unstable work situations, struggle for economic survival, and similarity in terms of capital supply, income, or upward mobility. This is a widely held conclusion among researchers and policy makers, based on the presumption that informal trade requires little initial capital and few skills and hence frequently serves as a last resort to those who are unable to find employment in informal manufacturing or the formal sector. As a result, little research has focused on identifying differences among small traders and determining how such differences might explain why some people are attracted to working in informal trade while others may not have a choice.
However, my research on informal trade in Quito, Ecuador, demonstrates a variety of socio-economic situations among small-scale vendors. These differences are based on a set of household and enterprise variables which, in combination, determine a spectrum of working conditions ranging from very unfavorable, i.e., with little or no capital accumulation or upward mobility, to very favorable, i.e., with high capital accumulation and economic upward mobility.
Central to the identification of different work situations among informal traders was an examination of the nature of interrelationships between small traders and other sectors of the economy. Based on previous studies on the articulation between formal and informal secctors, the assumption here was that these linkages determine the level of (in)dependence of individual workers, and, as a result, levels of profits and resulting socioeconomic well-being (Bromley and Gerry 1979; Bromley and Birk [end p. 82] beck 1988; Peattie 1981; Portes 1987; Roberts 1989).4
Field research in Quito revealed that capital and supply linkages are key variables which define economic differences among small traders.
Product Supply
Access to products explains what types of products are sold in the business, where they are bought, and how these factors affect profit levels. Three aspects play an important role in determining the levels of potential capital accumulation of profits, (1) the origin of a product (imported or not), (2) the level, of capital lintensity of a product (high or low), and (3) the relationship between vendor and supplier (diirect or indirect). High profits can be achieved if products are imported and of high capital investment, and if they are bought directly from the manufacturer. Low profits are a result of selling products made in Ecuador, products of low capital investment, and goods which are bought through middlemen.
Capital supply
Access to capital plays an important role in determining the level of financial independence of individual enterprises. Capital is needed to open a stall or small store and, later, to expand the business through purchase of new merchandise. Favorable capital (credit) sources are banks and suppliers of merchandise. Unfavorable capital sources are chulqueros (loan sharks) since they charge high monthly interest rates. Some vendors do not have access to any type of credit at all, which limits their ability to expand merchandise lines or sell more capital intensive and competitive products.
Besides these economic characteristics of small trading businesses, which are responsible for different work situations of small vendors, field work showed that the household and family situation plays an important role in determining different work situations. In fact, a causal relationship has been found between individuals' household and enterprise situations. Three aspects of the household can be directly linked to the business: (1) family suppport, such as capital supply or access to providers of goods allows vendors to eliminate credit and buy products which are more competitive, (2) a high level of formal education enables vendors to better manage a business and adapt quickly to market fluctuations, and (3) small household size and high household income alllows vendors to spend less in the household and thus invest more in the business.
Based on these findings, a typology of informal traders was developed, reflecting the diverse nature of enterprise and household condiitions. This typology represents a continuum of work and welfare situations where vendors at the lower end of the scale face the most disadvantageous (unfavorable) enterprise and household conditions, while vendors at the opposite end of the continuum face the most advantageous (favorable) conditions (Figure 1).5 Results of the research show that 47 percent of all cases fell toward the lower end of the continuum, 37 percent in the middle, and 15 percent toward the upper end of the scale.
RESEARCH SITE: CALLE IPIALES MARKET
Calle Ipiales market is located in Quito's historic center and is the city's largest retail market (Figure 2). Founded at the beginning of the 1960s as an informal street market, it was declared a public market by the municipality tooward the end of the decade. During the 1980s the market area grew considerably along the surrounding streets and toward public open spaces (plazas). Today, it houses the highest density of vendors of any market in Quito.
Four different types of sales units are found in Ipiales, ambulantes (those who walk with their merchandise), puestos fijos (fixed sites without any infrastructural equipment), casetas (closed stalls where vendors can leave their products overnight), and small stores (almace [end p.83] nes). Most vendors sell in puestos fijos. They are easier to obtain than casetas or almacenes, and less capital is required to open a business since less merchandise can be sold. However, vendors who sell in puestos fijos need to accquire and pay for a storage space where products can be left overnight.
Interviews were carried out with vendors in all four types of unit. First, a questionnaire survey was administered to 150 vendors (8 percent sample size), employing stratified sampling techniques according to sales unit and location. Interviews included owners and workers of 20 almacenes, 51 casetas, 68 puestos fijos, and 11 ambulantes.6 This sample represents the numeric distribution of these sales units in the market. Questions in the questionnaire were partly closed, partly open-ended. They were designed to examine economic links between the vendors and other sectors of the economy. Then, a sub-sample of twelve vendors was drawn and in-depth interrviews were carried out. The objective of this second research phase was to obtain as much information as possible about vendors' work (job, business) and welfare (household) situuation. Hence, these tape-recorded interviews were relatively unstructured and open ended.
MEN AND WOMEN IN INFORMAL TRADING
Male and female vendors encounter very differrent work and welfare experiences. Approximately two-thirds of the market vendors are women, and half of those are female household heads.7 The average age of both men and women is 35 years, however, ages among women are more polarized, with higher perrcentages of both younger (20s) and older (40s and 50s). The average age of female houseehold heads is 44, and the majority of them fall into the 41-50 year age cohort.
With respect to occupational categories of women vendors, most are self-employed, and a higher percentage are employers (8 percent compared to 5 percent for men). Women who were not household heads made up 90 percent of the wage workers in the interview sample. A significant difference in business size can be found between female household heads and other vendors. Among female household heads, 80 percent work on their own in single-person enterprises, compared to 42 percent for men and 58 percent of all women. Employment of wage workers was reported by 11 percent of female household heads, while most men were helped by their spouses.
Gender differences
Three additional typologies of informal traders were developed, based on a combination of the eight enterprise and household variables that were reported (Figure 1).8 In each step of the analysis, several subgroups were identified and ranked to create these typologies. The first typology is based on data from the total population. Then, typologies based on men, wommen, and female household heads, respectively, were developed. In each typology, sub-groups were aggregated into three categories: low, middle, and high. The majority of female household heads cluster toward the lower end of the continuum (62 percent), while the majorrity of all women are concentrated in the lower (42 percent) and middle (40 percent) sectors, as [end p.84] are the men (38 percent) also in the lower and middle segments.9 However, the percentage of men who cluster toward the upper end of the continuum is higher (24 percent) than either all women (18 percent) or female household heads (14 percent). This means that, in general, female household heads face the most disadvantageous enterprise and household situations as compared with all women and men.
Work and Welfare Differences
Eight variables were used to classify vendors (Figure 1). Four of these variables describe the conditions of the enterprise (supplier of products, origin of products, level of capital intensity of products, and source of capital), and the other four variables characterize the household conditions (number of household dependents, educational level, additional income, and level of sales). Combinations of these variables determine where vendors fall along the continuum of work and welfare conditions in the informal trade sector. Some variables behave differently for men and women. For example, women more frequently deal in nationally produced goods. In addition, their products are of lower capital-intensity than men's. Whereas 37 percent of all women sell products of low capital investment, only 17 percent of the men do (Table 1). With respect to access to capital, fewer women (4.5 percent) than men (15.5 percent) have access to bank credit (Table 2). Sales levels of women are overall lower than men's, however, the same proportion of women (18 percent) falls into the high category as men (Table 3). In summary, we can observe that women's enterprise conditions are generallly less favorable than men's.
A more diverse picture emerges with respect to household situation. Fewer women (14 percent) than men (26 percent) had post seconddary education, a condition that reflects women's generally poorer access to higher educaation in Ecuador (Table 4). However, women have an advantage over men in both average number of household dependents and additional income (Table 5). This is because many women market vendors provide secondary income in male headed households, while male vendors' spouses may not contribute income to the family; in fact, they are counted in the total number of household dependents, thus contributing to the impression that male vendors support more family members than females.
How does the work and welfare situation change if we consider female household heads? Most female household heads (53 percent) accquired their puestos through vendors' organizations.10 They received less support from families and friends in finding their jobs (39 percent) than either men (49 percent) or female non-household heads (56 percent). On the other hand, capital to start a business was mainly provided through family and friends. This reflects the fact that most female houseehold heads did not have access to alternative capital resources (eg. bank or personal savings) when initiating the business, since many had [end p. 85] been housewives and not previously economically active. For similar reasons we find more women (15 percent) and female household heads (14 percent) who used credit from product suppliers when initiating their businesses than men (8 percent).
More female household heads buy through intermediaries (46 percent) than all women (30 percent) and men (27 percent). This is largely based on the fact that: (1) most of these women work alone in their business and thus have to close it down, with associated loss of income, if they want to travel to buy products directly from suppliers, (2) they are often the only income earners and hence cannot afford to lose profits, and (3) they have to take care of their children while selling in the street and so are unable to leave their business location. In addition, Table 1 indicates that levels of capital intensity of products are lower for female household heads (43 percent) than all women (37 percent) and men (17 percent). These unfavorable product supply conditions are reflected in considerably lower sales levels with 53 percent of female household heads in the low category, compared with 39 percent of all women and 27 percent of men, while the corresponding levels in the high category are 9 percent for female household heads, 19 percent for all women, and 18 percent for men (Table 3). Another interesting result is that the overwhelming majority of female household heads works with credit (97 percent compared with 80 percent of all women), which they obtain mainly from suppliers (66 percent compared with 57 percent of all women and 53 percent of men) (Table 2). This can be explained by the fact that many of these women: (1) lack access to bank credit and (2) sell locally produced goods which they buy from small informal manufacturers who provide credit. In summmary, the economic conditions of female household heads are less advantageous than those of other vendors.
The household conditions of female household heads are also less favorable than are those of other women. Educational levels are the lowest of all vendors (Table 4). Likewise, household incomes are lower since female household heads are often the only income earners in the family (69 percent of the sample). More household heads (40 percent) fell into the highest number of dependents category, as opposed to 31 percent of all women, but 29 percent of female household heads also fall into the lowest level of dependents (Table 5). The latter clearly have an advantage since fewer dependents generally mean lower household expenses. In summary, while some household conditions are less favorable for female household heads, others may be more favorable compared with other vendors.
The average household size of all interviewees is 4.9 (Table 4). Female heads have smaller households (4.5) than either all women (4.7) or men (5). As noted above, the women vendors are usually the sole source of income for their household while in those households in which women are additional income earners, incomes are much higher.
CASE STUDIES OF DIVERSITY
An important finding from the previous analysis is that a large proportion of female household heads faces unfavorable enterprise and household conditions. Nevertheless, there is internal diversity among female household heads, with 24 percent falling into the middle category and 14 percent in the highest (Figure 3). The following section of this paper uses case studies to demonstrate how economic links may differ among female household heads to create a variety of socioeconomic conditions and potentials for upward mobility.
Women vendors at the lowest level of the continuum usually confront household and family situations which restrict their ability to develop stable businesses and/or improve their welfare situation. One example is the case of Mariana, who has been responsible for her family for the past 20 years.
Mariana married as a teenager and was pregnant with her second child when her husband left her. Then she was forced to look for work [end p. 86] in order to maintain her family. Her low level of formal education and lack of access to capital or product markets made it difficult for her to establish a business. Hence, she faced a less privileged situation since her youth. This can largely be explained by the patriarchal nature of Ecuadorian society, in which women generally have limited access to higher formal education. Mariana obtained her puesto through a newly founded organization of street vendors and has been in the same location for 20 years. Remarrriage was impossible based on religious beliefs and cultural constraints. The resulting double responsibility for both family and business considerably restricted her opportunities. For example, she had less time to spend on extending her business, searching for new product markets, contacting suppliers, and travel. Furrthermore, her income is the only one in the household. Therefore, she has to spend a large proportion of her earnings on the family and is unable to reinvest in the business. When she started her business, Mariana had no savings, since she had not previously been economically active, and bank loans were unavailable to a single mother with no income. Financial help from friends, most of whom she knew through her husband, was not available, either. Therefore, Mariana had to buy merchandise with capital obtained from money lenders, who demand the payment of high interest rates. Today, Mariana can buy most of her stock on credit from suppliers. However, she still does not have the capital necessary to increase the amount of goods she carries.
Conditions of work and welfare generally improve at higher levels on the continuum. Martha belongs to a subgroup within the midddle category. Her life story is similar to that of Mariana (teenage marriage, early separation, no remarriage, female household head), but she is farther up in the hierarchy because her household situation today is more favorable. Martha lives by herself so that her income, although low, allows her a higher level of living than does Mariana's. The comparison of these two cases clearly demonstrates the importance of the household situation (and the related responsibilities women have) for understanding the welfare impacts that are related to each informal subgroup. Since Martha does not have to support a family (her children left home a few years ago and have their own jobs and families) she is higher up on the continuum.
Martha's business has a low profit margin, no access to capital, and buys directly from the manufacturer. The products she sells (bed-clothes) are Ecuadorian and not very competitive. However, she has friends and relatives in the market who helped her to establish her business. In addition, her previous husband has a small store in the same market and helped her children get started in commercial activities. Hence, Martha did not have to support her family as long as Mariana.
Gloria11 represents the upper levels of the continuum, where advantageous situations of both enterprise and household dominate. She is 28 years old and solely responsible for her business, a small electronics store in the center of the market. Gloria has three employees and sells highly capital-intensive goods imported from East Asia, the United States and Europe. She buys directly from importers in Guayaquil. Gloria works with bank credit and recently invested in real estate in downtown Quito. Gloria's success was highly favored through her parents. They are in the vending business as well, and Gloria inherited the store when her parents moved to Guayaquil. At that time, she was a college student in economics. she did not finish her degree because she was more interested in the business. Her relatively high level of education helped her to run the store. Financial aid and access to importers of elecctronic goods was provided through her parents and relatives. Gloria is still single and invests a large proportion of her profits in expanding her business. Why is her situation so different from the previous two examples? First, Gloria has never been married and therefore has no family responsibilities. This is enhanced by the fact that she lives by herself. She can devote most of her time to the business, travel in order to contact importers in Guayaquil, and take evening classes at the university. Since she does not have to support a family, she is able to reinvest most of her income in the business. Second, she comes from an upper-middle class, less traditional family where the mother has always been economically active in her own vending business. Gloria was more encouraged to pursue higher education than are most Ecuadorian women. In addition, she was financially supported by her family when she began her business career and was, therefore, not exposed to sexist policies of financial institutions. Similarly, her family contact provided [end p.87] her with access to capital-intensive goods and (male) importers. This would otherwise have been difficult given the prejudice against professional women in Ecuadorian society.
In summary, these cases clearly demonstrate the disadvantaged position of women vendors. For them, the stage within their life cycle when initiating a business is crucial for determining future socioeconomic well-being and potential upward mobility. Women like Gloria who do not have marriage and household responsibilities are able to move higher up in the continuum than women who need to take care of a family (eg. Mariana) or women who had to take care of a family previously and thus never had time or funds to spend on developing and expanding a business (eg. Martha).
CONCLUSION
This study is developed from geographic research on urban labor markets, the informal sector, and work force fragmentation which has identified links between changes in local labor markets in the developing world and global processes of industrial restructuring and relocation which originated in more advanced economies. It contributes to these themes by linking urban informal commercial activities to broader networks of production and distribution. Within that framework, the present paper demonstrates how work experiences and life chances differ between male and female informal workers. Crucial to identifying the heterogenous nature of informal trading activities was an investigation of the relationships of various informal subgroups to the formal sector, and the development of a typology of informal activities. Research results demonstrate that informal working arrangements commprise a variety of socioeconomic situations ranging from pure survival to economic uppward mobility. A gender-blind analysis sugggests that the internal diversity of the informal trade sector is determined by (1) the nature of relationships between informal workers and the formal economy, and (2) the type of support people receive through informal networks of family and friends. By contrast, a gender analysis extends this conclusion and argues that productive and reproductive spheres differ between male and female vendors, thus directly determining their different socioeconomic situations.
This was demonstrated by the distribution of cases along the work and welfare continuum which changes significantly if we add the gender dimension to the development of the typology of vendors. Men clearly cluster toward the upper end of the continuum, whereas women, and especially female household heads, cluster toward the lower end. These disadvantages are largely based on the patriarchal nature of Ecuadorian society, which discriminates against women from childhood. Furthermore, remarriage (after the husband has left) is usually impossible for women due to religious and cultural beliefs and constraints. The latter restrict female vendors' economic success through: (1) their double responsibility in household and business, (2) lack of travel time to buy more competitive/cheaper goods, and (3) their frequent position as only income earner in the household, which restricts reinvestments in business.
In order to fully understand the diversity within the informal trade sector and the related impacts on welfare and life chances, future work must take into consideration the role gender plays in determining these different work experiences. Geographic research on the articulation of formal and informal sectors and/or the nature of integration of informal workers into national and international economies does not provide a complete analysis unless it connsiders the different responsibilities of women workers, their limitations in society and economy, and the resulting impacts on the heteroogenous structure of urban labor markets in developing nations.
NOTES
1. The research presented here was funded by NSF Grant No. SES-9001220. This support is appreciated.
2. Ideas and results of this paper are based on my dissertaation work. For further information see Teltseher 1992.
3. For reviews of the informal sector concept see Portes et al. 1989; Bromley 1978; Breman 1980; Moser 1984; ILDIS and CEPESIU 1987.
4. Studies on informal activities in the footwear, textile/ garment, recycling, and food industry revealed that production and employment relations between formal and informal sectors determine levels of independence of informal workers, control over their job, and thus levels of potential profits. A key argument of these studies is whether control over the produced surplus of informal workers is determined by themselves or by someone else (eg. a formal enterprise). This factor is [end p. 88] crucial for understanding the amount of income that can be generated and the resulting welfare among informal workers and their families.
5. In addition to the above mentioned characteristics, annother variable, "sales level," was included in the analysis. Sales levels reflect the amount of capital invested and correspond to income levels.
6. Interviews were held with 11 employers, 10 wage workers, 119 self-employed workers, and 10 unpaid family workers.
7. Household heads are here defined as the persons responsible for family maintenance. Hence, the term refers to the principal household income earner. For a more elaborate definition see Chant (1991); Youssef and Hetler (1983); Harris (1981).
8. This has been done through a quantitative analysis of the survey data. The eight variables were applied to a SPSS-X cluster analysis which groups cases based on the similarity of the defined variables. Each variable was assigned three values, "low", "middle", or "high". A cluster analysis allows a grouping of vendors where cases in each group face similar (either "low", "midddIe," or "high ") conditions related to each variable. The range "low" to "high" describes economic and household conditions ranging from "most disadvantaageous" to "most advantageous".
9. An important observation is that within men's "low" categories there were no groups at the very low end on the continuum, but most of them clustered towards the "middle" category. By contrast, most of the female heads "low" group clustered towards the very end of the continuum thus facing even more disadvantageous situations compared to their male counterparts in the same category.
10. Each street in this market is controlled by a different organization. Organizations assign sites to the vendors. An advantage for those who want to obtain a site is to know a vendor (member) from a particular organization who will then provide contact with the organization and easier access to a site that opens up. Many female household heads did not have these contacts and therefore directly approached the vender organization.
11. Gloria is single and lives by herself. Although she does not have to support a family she is defined here as household head since she is solely responsible for her economic well-being.
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Resumen
Muchos estudios recientes sobre los mercados urbanos de mano de obra hablan de la naturaleza diversa del sector informal. Resultados de investigaciones del campo en Quito, Ecuador, muestran que el intercambio informal se distingue por una variedad de características que conducen a un continuo de situaciones de bienestar económico que se encuentran dispersado desde pura supervivencia a negocios muy bien establecidos. Esta diversidad se revela por medio de análisis de factores productivos y reproductivos que incluyen abastacimiento de productos, acceso a crédito, apoyo de la familia, etapa de la vida, educación, y ingresos familiares. La tercera parte de los vendedores informales son mujeres, amas de casa. Estas mujeres enfrentan relaaciones prejudiciales con prestamistas y mayoristas o [end p. 90] proveedores que actuan a diminuir las ganancias de los negocios y bajan los ingresos de la casa. Además, bajos niveles de educación, falta de experiencia con trabajo, y ausencia de apoyo de la familia limitan aún más las oportunidades de crear negocios estables para estas mujeres. Así que más de las mujeres amas de casa se encuentran hacia la parte más baja del continuo de comercio informal en el sentido de ingreso y bienestar familiar.
Palabras clave: sector informal, mujer jefe de casa, Ecuador, mercados de mano de obra urbano, producción, reproducción social. [end p. 91]