(introduction...)

Kasungu (1990:7) has summarized the social conditions in which women in the informal sector work. Whether it is in the rural or in the urban areas the women face almost the same problems. In this subsection we shall look at some of the limiting conditions in which the women find themselves working, hence reducing their productivity and sometimes making it impossible for them to work.

My own experience based on researches and various reports have consistently shown the number of projects and even programmes which were run by women but finally collapsed. What caused them to collapse? We should not blame the women for this, for, in many instances, the causes are external, (beyond their control), or the women were not well prepared to engage themselves in such programmes and or projects.