Robert B. Potter - Gender, Ethnicity and the Informal Sector in Trinidad

Gender, Ethnicity and the Informal Sector in Trinidad

SALLY LLOYD-EVANS

University of Reading

ROBERT B. POTTER

Royal Holloway, University of London

First published 2002 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge

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Copyright Sally Lloyd-Evans and Robert B. Potter 2002

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ISBN 13: 978-1-138-71835-7 (hbk)

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In May 1990, we both travelled to the Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, hosted by Trinidad, to undertake preliminary work for Sallys doctoral research on Trinidads informal sector. The motivation for this research stemmed directly from Sallys childhood experiences growing-up in Mexico City and an early fascination with the innovative ways people make a living in the so called informal economy. After exploring Port of Spain, and talking to street traders and higglers about their work, we became interested in understanding the ways in which ideas about gender, ethnicity and place shape the opportunities available to different individuals in the informal sector. Back home, Sallys doctoral research proposal developed into an ethnographic study on the working experiences of petty commodity traders, that we hoped would throw some light on the issues which are most salient to individuals and their families in this increasingly important section of the economy. Following an offer by Professor Selwyn Ryan of a Visiting Research Fellowship based at the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies in St Augustine, Sally returned in 1991 to start her field research under Robs supervision.

This monograph is based on the original doctoral thesis, which has been modified and adapted to incorporate more recent theoretical insights into the informal sector, space, gender and ethnicity. Since the main body of research presented in this monograph was undertaken, the literature on these issues has expanded to provide new ways of looking at how individuals use the labour market to create their own working spaces, and the extent to which these spatial processes are gendered and racialised. As such, this monograph is not an all-encompassing examination of the informal sector in Trinidad, rather it paints a picture of the daily lives experienced by informal petty-commodity traders working in the early- to mid-1990s. Although, the original field research was undertaken in the first half of the 1990s, we believe this monograph will make an important contribution to understanding the social dynamics of informal economies in the Caribbean, and elsewhere.

We would like to thank a number of individuals and organisations for their help with the original fieldwork and the preparation of this monograph. Firstly, Sally and Rob would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council for funding this doctoral research in Trinidad, along with all colleagues in the Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London. Elizabeth Thomas-Hope and Linda Newson provided very helpful comments on the thesis. Secondly, the research presented in this monograph would not have been possible without the support of so many individuals and agencies in Trinidad and Tobago who gave up their valuable time to assist Sally with her field research. Sincere gratitude goes to Professor Selwyn Ryan and his colleagues at the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies (UWI) at St Augustine, Trinidad; Gwendoline Williams and Vina Jules from the Department of Management; all members of the Womens Studies Unit at UWI; and the traders who kindly talked about their lives and experiences. Also in Trinidad, thanks go to Leslie Bowrin from the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme, the Department of Town and Country Planning, the Ministry of Mobilisation and Planning and United Nations ECLAC, for allowing Sally to work with them.

On a more personal note, Sally would like to say a special thank you to the Persad family, the Myers family, Dave Ramsaran, Gwendoline Williams and to her good friend Alyson, for their continued friendship and hospitality during her stay in Trinidad. More recently, thanks to Sophie Bowlby and Cathy Mcllwaine for their conceptual input, help with bibliographic material and general support during the writing of this book. Finally, Sally would like to express her eternal gratitude to Andrew and her parents for their unfaltering support and encouragement throughout her doctoral research and beyond. This monograph was partly written when Sally was on maternity leave, following the birth of her daughter Ellie, and she would like to say a special thanks to both Andrew and her Mum for all their help during those hectic days! Both of us, but particularly Rob, would like to thank Kathy Roberts of the Department of Geography, Royal Holloway for typesetting the final text, and to Sue May for photographically reproducing the figures. Heather Browning of the Department of Geography, University of Reading assisted with some of the cartography.

Sally Lloyd-Evans

and Rob Potter

Summer 2002

They have simply renounced legality. They go out on the streets to sell whatever they can, they set up their shops, and they build their houses on the hillsides, or on vacant lots. Where there are no jobs, they invent jobs, learning in the process all they were never taught (de Soto, 1989: xix).

Introduction

In 1998, the International Labour Office (ILO) reported that the informal sector accounts for a large proportion of urban employment throughout the developing world. In Africa, informal employment constitutes over 60 per cent of total urban employment and it is estimated that most Asian, Latin American and Caribbean countries exhibit rates which exceed 50 per cent (ILO, 1998: 167). As urban population growth rates greatly exceed employment creation in many developing world cities, labour force growth is also predicted to accelerate rapidly over the next 25 years. A well recognised consequence of the inability of many countries to provide jobs has been the substantial increase in the proportion of the labour force seeking alternative forms of employment outside the boundaries of officially recognised work. The benefits of globalisation which were promised to many developing nations by global institutions, namely formal job creation through foreign direct investment and export-oriented production, have in reality only led to a rise in insecure and low-paid contractual work. In relation to the interdependence of employment and global economic forces, it is structural adjustment which has been most closely associated with formal sector retrenchment and redundancy (Green, 1995; Stewart, 1995), and it is the so called informal sector which many households turn to in order to reduce their vulnerability (see de Soto, 1989; Thomas, 1992, 1995; Scott, 1994). In Latin America, for example, the informal sector grew from 40 per cent in 1980 to 53 per cent in 1990 as a direct result of the debt crisis (Stewart, 1995). It is now well established that in many low-income communities throughout the world, household income is less likely to be derived from regular waged employment than it is through a combination of casual activities, selfemployment and multiple occupations.