Week 4 Questions for Discussion

1. In "Women Street Vendors", Cohen, Bhatt, and Horn write that national level street vendor organizational efforts "also need to be consolidated at an international level to protect these rights over time (given the nature of globalization and its effects on economically marginalized groups such as street vendors)"? Do you agree with this statement? Do you think that one day their could be a Declaration of the Rights of Informal Sector Workers such as street vendors much like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? If so, how would such a document need to be tailored to adequately address the rights of women informal sector workers around the globe?

2. In "Women in the Informal Sector", Chen notes that "men and women tend to be involved in different activities or types of employment even within the same trades" in the informal economy. "In many countries, for example, male traders tend to have larger scale operations and to deal in non-food items while female traders tend to have smaller scale operations and to deal in food items" (Chen 77). What larger gender implications does this have for developing countries where the informal economy is particularly prominent?

3. In "The Informal Sector in Egypt", El-Mikawy discusses the notion of equality between the sexes in an Islamic context and quotes Mohamad al-Ghazali as saying, "Islam equates man and woman with regards to all rights and duties. If there are differences, they are to respect human nature." What are your thoughts on this statement? Do you think men and women are fundamentally different enough in human nature to give this argument some validity?