African Women Traders During the Peak of the Mau Mau Emergency, 1953-1956

Abstract

The study examined African women traders’  in Nairobi at the height of the Mau Mau Emergency from 1952-1956.  The study focused on Nairobi’s Eastlands- the main African residential area during the colonial period. The  main objective of the study was to examine trading activities, opportunities and challenges that women traders in Nairobi, experienced. The conceptual framework of the study was guided by the Gender and Development (GAD) approach. GAD is relevant to the study as it  addresses  the activities,, opportunities and challenges  of the women traders. . The sources of information for the study were oral, archival and library materials.  The study concluded that the outbreak of Mau Mau and the subsequent government’s imposition of a State of Emergency in October 1952, interrupted the trading activities.