Gender, poverty and economic adjustment in Harare, Zimbabwe

This paper examines the changes in household incomes, expenditure, savings and debts, patterns of work, living costs and use of social services among 100 households in a low-income settlement in Harare, Zimbabwe. The households were interviewed in mid-1991 as the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme began, and one year later in mid-1992 to see what changes had occurred. The paper considers the way in which gender functions as a critical variable in determining the effects of Structural Adjustment and disaggregates changes in incomes, expenditures and work of men and women and their effect on gender relations.