(Un)paid Social Reproductive Labour at a Taxi Rank in Cape Town, South Africa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2412-8457/16693Keywords:
social reproductive labour, (un)paid labour, household, omama, taxi rank, genderAbstract
This article draws on the case of omama, who prepare and sell food at the Deck Station taxi rank in Cape Town, South Africa. The study that informed the article aimed to explore social reproductive labour performed through the informal economy. Omama are involved in low-paid survivalist work. According to omama, they do this work because of the lack of choices. Although their labour is key to the everyday work lives of taxi drivers, their work has not received adequate scholarly attention. This study was based on participant observation and eight extensive semi-structured interviews, which were done with women who worked at the taxi rank, cooking and selling food. The study relied on relational comparison analytical tools and was located on social reproductive labour, space, gender and informal economy literature. According to the findings of this study, omama reported that in addition to their low-paid work, they performed unpaid gendered and intimate social reproductive work as a way of keeping their clients happy. Being involved in low-paid informal work puts omama in a position where they are involved in what we have termed “reverse social reproductive labour.” Reverse social reproductive labour is a process whereby women who perform social reproductive labour at the workplace subject other women of lower class to the same survivalist conditions, whether unpaid or underpaid.
References
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Samson, Melanie. 2019. “Trashing Solidarity: The Production of Power and the Challenges to Organizing Informal Reclaimers.” International Labor and Working-Class History 95: 34–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547919000036
Stevano, Sara. 2018. “Social Reproduction and Women’s Work in the Global South.” The Journal of Agrarian Change. Accessed February 13, 2024. https://aqs.org.uk/social-reproduction-and-womens-work-in-the-global-south/
Tronto, Joan C. 1994. Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care. New York: Routledge.
Vora, Kalindi. 2017. “Labor.” In Gender: Matter, edited by Stacy Alaimo. New York: Macmillan.
Walker, Cherryl. 1990. Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945. Cape Town: David Philip.
Western Cape Government. 2022. “Western Cape Government’s Response to Taxi Shutdown.” Accessed February 13, 2024. https://www.westerncape.gov.za/tpw/news/western-cape-government-s-response-taxi-shutdown
Boris, E., and Parreñas, R. S. 2010. Intimate Labors: Cultures, Technologies, and the Politics of Care. Stanford Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804777278
Brickell, Chris. 2005. “Masculinities, Performativity, and Subversion: A Sociological Reappraisal.” Men and Masculinities 8 (1): 24–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X03257515
Cape Argus. 2019. “Cape Town Station Deck Closed from Wednesday for R2m Upgrade.” January 13, 2019. Accessed October 12, 2024. https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/cape-town-station-deck-closed-from-wednesday-for-r2m-upgrade-18798240
Connell, Raeywn. 2016. “Masculinities in Global Perspective: Hegemony, Contestation, and Changing Structures of Power.” Theory and Society 45: 303–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-016-9275-x
Cousins, Ben, Alex Dubb, Donna Hornby, and Farai Mtero. 2018. “Social Reproduction of ‘Classes of Labour’ in the Rural Areas of South Africa: Contradictions and Contestations.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 45 (5–6): 1060–1085. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1482876
Doherty, Jacob. 2021. “Mobilizing Social Reproduction: Gendered Mobility and Everyday Infrastructure in Abidjan.” Mobilities 16 (5): 758–774. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2021; https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2021.1944288
Fakier, Khayaat, and Jacklyn Cock. 2009. “A Gendered Analysis of the Crisis of Social Reproduction in Contemporary South Africa.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 11 (3): 353–371. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616740903017679
Fobosi, Siyabulela Christopher. 2019. “Employment Practices within the Minibus Taxi Industry in Johannesburg.” African Sociological Review 23 (2): 103–124. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/asr/article/view/246672
Hart, Gillian. 1997. “From ‘Rotten Wives’ to ‘Good Mothers’: Household Models and the Limits of Economism.” IDS Bulletin 28 (3): 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.1997.mp28003002.x
Hart, Gillian. 2002. Disabling Globalization: Places of Power in Post-apartheid South Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 85 (3): 551–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778583; https://doi.org/10.1086/227049
Hunter, Mark. 2022. “Relational Comparison and Contested Educational Spaces in Durban.” In Ethnographies of Power: Working Radical Concepts, edited by Sharad Chari, Mark Hunter, and Melanie Samson, 77–97. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/22022076666.8
Institute for Economic Justice. 2018. “Job Summit Policy Brief Series: Stream 3. Policy Brief 1. Informal Economy/Sector: Research Policy Advocacy.” Accessed October 5, 2024. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Stream-3-Policy-Brief-1-Informal-Economy-Sector.pdf
Katz, C. 2001. “Vagabond Capitalism and the Necessity of Social Reproduction.” Antipode 33 (4): 708–727. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00207
Kgosimore, David. 1995. “Violence in the Taxi Industry: An Ethological Perspective.” Acta Criminologica 8 (1). https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA10128093_143
Komane, Komane. 2013. “The Impact of Working as a Bus Driver on Women’s Health, Workplace Relationships and Family Functioning: The Experiences of Black Female Bus Drivers in Tshwane.” Master’s dissertation, University of Pretoria. https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/37359/Komane_ImpactofWorking_2013.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Martin, Phiona Gambiza. 2013. “The Experiences of Women in Male-dominated Professions and Environments in South Africa.” Master’s dissertation, University of South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/8594
Massey, Doreen. 1994. Space, Place, and Gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Mathabathe, Thabiso. 2020. “The Economic Significance of Taxi Rank Businesses: A Narrative of East Rand Mall Taxi Rank Businesses.” Educor Multidisciplinary Journal 4 (1). https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/ejc-educor-v4-n1-a7
Matiwane, Thembeka Fortunate. 2019. “Challenges Facing Women Entrepreneurs in the Mini-bus Industry: The Case of eThekwini Municipality.” Master’s dissertation, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Mchunu, G. Gugu, Joanne R. Naidoo, and Busisiwe P. Ncama. 2020. “Condom Use: A Less Travelled Route Among Minibus Taxi Drivers and Their Taxi Queens in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.” African Health Sciences 20 (2): 658–665. https://doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v20i2.15
Morrell, R., R. Jewkes, and G. Lindegger. 2012. “Hegemonic Masculinity/Masculinities in South Africa: Culture, Power, and Gender Politics.” Men and Masculinities. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X12438001
Mosoetsa, Sara. 2011. Eating from One Pot: The Dynamics of Survival in Poor South African Households. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/12011045331
Mpofu-Mketwa, Tsitsi Jane. 2020. “Asihlali Phantsi!: A Study of Agency Among isiXhosa-speaking Women Traders in a Cape Town Township.” PhD thesis, University of Cape Town. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32844
Ngubane, Londeka, Sazelo Mkhize, and Sogo Angel Olofinbiyi. 2020. “Taxi Violence in South Africa: Insight from Mpumalanga Township, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.” African Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies 9 (3): 81–104. https://doi.org/10.31920/2634-3665/2020/v9n3a5
Nkete, Patricia Pinky. 2015. “Operating in a Man’s World: The Perceptions and Experiences of Female Taxi Drivers in Rustenburg, South Africa.” Master’s dissertation, University of Johannesburg.
O’Regan, Victoria. 2022. “Thursday Taxi Protest Over Impoundment of Vehicles Causes Blockades, Disruptions and Violence in Cape Town.” Daily Maverick, March 24, 2022. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-24-thursday-taxi-protest-over-impoundment-of-vehicles-causes-blockades-disruptions-and-violence-in-cape-town/
Sauti, Gloria. 2006. “Minibus Taxi Drivers Are They All ‘Children Born from the Same Mother?’” Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand.
Samson, Melanie. 2019. “Trashing Solidarity: The Production of Power and the Challenges to Organizing Informal Reclaimers.” International Labor and Working-Class History 95: 34–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547919000036
Stevano, Sara. 2018. “Social Reproduction and Women’s Work in the Global South.” The Journal of Agrarian Change. Accessed February 13, 2024. https://aqs.org.uk/social-reproduction-and-womens-work-in-the-global-south/
Tronto, Joan C. 1994. Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care. New York: Routledge.
Vora, Kalindi. 2017. “Labor.” In Gender: Matter, edited by Stacy Alaimo. New York: Macmillan.
Walker, Cherryl. 1990. Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945. Cape Town: David Philip.
Western Cape Government. 2022. “Western Cape Government’s Response to Taxi Shutdown.” Accessed February 13, 2024. https://www.westerncape.gov.za/tpw/news/western-cape-government-s-response-taxi-shutdown
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Published
2024-10-30
How to Cite
Xulu-Gama, Nomkhosi, and Yonela Toshḙ-Mlambo. 2024. “(Un)paid Social Reproductive Labour at a Taxi Rank in Cape Town, South Africa”. Gender Questions 12 (2):17 pages . https://doi.org/10.25159/2412-8457/16693.
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