The following article describes the strategies of a group of rural Kenyan market women for coordinating their various family responsibilities: subsistence production, income generation, child rearing, and household maintenance. By approaching the study of these women through their income-generating role, which is essential to the performance of their other roles, this analysis provides an important éntree for understanding all aspects of women's behavior.
PIP: Income generating jobs for the predominantly illiterate Luo women of rural Kenya are scarce; however, market trading is one way in which many of these women can and do earn money. Most Luo women sell surplus products from their own gardens, but market women act as intermediaries by buying products produced by others and then re-selling them in the market for a profit. The Luo women who engage in market trading must continue to perform all their customary work roles, such as child rearing and domestic and agricultural chores. Many market women manage to fulfill all these roles by cooperating with other women in labor exchanges. For example, grain traders take turns traveling to other areas to purchase grain for each other. Most women do not assume an active trading role until they have children who are old enough to manage the house and fields in their absence. Husbands are not expected to help in these matters. Although this is a polygynous society, a woman does not ask her co-wives to help since each wife is expected to manage her own household. Before a Luo woman can become a market woman she must acquire enough capital to purchase a stock pile of products. The women either accumulate capital by selling surplus products from their own gardens or by obtaining the money from their relatives. Luo women desire to earn money so that they do not have to be dependent on others for their personal expenses and for money to run their households.