Balancing Subsistence Agriculture and Self-Employment in Small Businesses: Continuity and Change in Women’s Labor and Labor Relations in Mozambique, 1800–2000¹

Abstract

This article examines women’s participation in the economy of Mozambique by looking into multiple forms of female work and labor relations in a historical perspective, covering the period from 1800 to 2000. To this aim, I present a tentative profile of the Mozambican female population and a preliminary analysis of women’s activities in the different economic sectors, as well as of the ways in which they contribute to the economy of the household, the state and the market economy. This is done by examining different types of labor relations they appear involved in, comparatively to men, and by discussing main changes over time and possible explanatory factors. For this purpose, I use population counts, censuses, and statistical data produced by the Portuguese colonial state and the Mozambican government in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively, alongside reports from officials of the Portuguese colonial state and the concessionary companies.