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Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe: Gender, Microbusiness, and Globalization

A new book published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press examines women's experiences in microbusiness in Zimbabwe during the 1990s.

WASHINGTON—Woodrow Wilson Center Press has published a new book, Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe: Gender, Microbusiness, and Globalization, by Mary Johnson Osirim. It is copublished with Indiana University Press.

Based on a series of interviews conducted throughout the 1990s, Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe discusses the business and personal experiences of women entrepreneurs in the cities of Harare and Bulawayo, who worked in the market trade, crocheting, sewing, and hairdressing professions of the microenterprise sector.

What Osirim discovers is a remarkable resilience in the face of major challenges, in particular those brought on by the 1991 Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP). These women managed to maintain both their businesses and their households, while at the same time contributing to community and national development. Osirim's study also explores the impact of state and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on small business operations. In the end, she offers a comprehensive view of women's perseverance, their ingenuity as entrepreneurs, and the critical role they played in shaping Zimbabwe's economic development.

"The comparative nature of Dr. Osirim's work constitutes a major contribution in the field of women's entrepreneurship in Africa."—Nancy Horn, independent consultant in African development

"Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe is a welcome addition to the literature. These are really fascinating women, as anyone who has ever encountered them can attest, and their story deserves to be told."—Michael West, Binghamton University

Mary Johnson Osirim is professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and co-director of the Center for International Studies at Bryn Mawr College.

Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe is distributed by Indiana University Press, available online at www.iupress.indiana.edu or by telephone at 1-800-842-6796. The list price is $39.95 for hardcover.

Woodrow Wilson Center Press publishes books by fellows, resident scholars, and staff written in substantial part at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Titles range from popular accounts of historical topics to fundamental reviews of scholarly fields to authoritative background on important policy issues. For more information about the Press, or to search its backlist of titles, please visit www.wilsoncenter.org/press.