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Labour, lodging and linkages: migrant women's experience in South Africa

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  • Phillips, Laura
  • James, Deborah

Abstract

This historiographical overview examines the literature on women migrants in South Africa, arguing that it is important to consider domestic struggles and their impact on women’s urban experiences within and beyond the workplace in order to understand the unfolding of the migrant labour system in the 20th and 21st centuries. Looking at writing on pre-1994 migrancy, it highlights women’s experiences in the workplace, in the residential spaces they occupy, and in their associational life. We also draw out some of the major trends in the post-1994 period, focusing in particular on scholarship that considers HIV/AIDS. Migrant women, we argue, are neither simply home-based nor town-linked; rather their experiences and struggles provide the means to accommodate both while also transforming these polarities.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillips, Laura & James, Deborah, 2014. "Labour, lodging and linkages: migrant women's experience in South Africa," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59443, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:59443
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/59443/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniela Casale & Dorrit Posel, 2002. "The Continued Feminisation Of The Labour Force In South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(1), pages 156-184, March.
    2. Carol S Camlin & Victoria Hosegood & Marie-Louise Newell & Nuala McGrath & Till Bärnighausen & Rachel C Snow, 2010. "Gender, Migration and HIV in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(7), pages 1-10, July.
    3. Leslie Bank, 1999. "Men with Cookers: Transformations in Migrant Culture, Domesticity and Identity in Duncan Village, East London," Journal of Southern African Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 393-416, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Odile Mackett, 2022. "Decent Work in the South African Macroeconomy: Who are The Winners and Losers?," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 277-305, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; historiography; migrancy; women; housing; apartheid; associational life; informal work; domestic work; factory work; HIV/AIDS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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