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In brief, the following paper explores the dynamics of informal trade, gender and development in the context of mega-events. As the FIFA 2010 World Cup steadily approaches, the construction as well as re-construction of urban space is evident across South Africa. A local manifestation of this national phenomenon is the extensive construction underway at the Cape Town Train Station. In promising public discourse, a strong emphasis is placed on the potential economic and social legacy of these infrastructural projects. This paper uncovers the lived realities that underlie and ultimately contest this conventional vantage on 2010. The focus of this ethnographic research is the daily experiences of informal traders who occupy the taxi rank above Cape Town Station. Due to ongoing construction in the space, traders are continually displaced and are forced to negotiate this movement in their daily survival. This has far-reaching detrimental effects on the traders' socioeconomic well-being and that of their dependents. The perceptions and experiences of these traders offer an alternative discourse on 2010 and its concurrent potentials and predicaments. In exploring the daily realities of informal traders at Cape Town Station, this paper reveals stark gender gaps in municipal legislation surrounding trade and entrepreneurship. Given the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and its commitment to formulating gender-responsive policies, it is necessary to take this seriously. To achieve a holistic form of development, preparatory projects for the World Cup need to be gender-sensitive and to have a sustainable vision beyond 2010.
Files to download:
10891_beyond_2010_space_and_survival_at_cape_town_station.pdf - 485286 KB| ISBN | 978-1-920550-41-7 |
| Publisher | Gender Links |
| Edition | 8th Edition |
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Online | Yes |
| Physical Resource | Yes |
| Physical Location | GMDC Library |
| Place of Publication | Johannesburg |
| Classification No | 302.230968WAL |
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