vendors, the homeless and municipal and ZRP officers. As one feminist informant confirmed,“When we called for legislation to address GBV issues, which are also enshrined in the 2013 Constitution, we were advocating for the principles of bodily integrity and autonomy. Every woman, including street vendors, should be free from all forms of violence and coercion. This includes the right to decide whether to have sex and to consent to being touched. Therefore, the concerns of female street vendors, including the sexual violations they face, align with what we feminists stand for. Such explanations are compelling. We therefore agree that, although the term‘street vendors’ may not have appeared explicitly in feminist work until now, some of the gains at­tained are related to the struggles of female street vendors to date. The same applies to feminist demands for women to have the right to decent work and income(‘equal work for equal pay’). Some street vendors in Gweru agreed that the femi­nist call for women to enjoy the same dignity at work and decent incomes as men resonates with their own desire for decent incomes. Veteran feminists argue that this resonance is stronger than ever today, as formal employment becomes scarcer and women’s street vending is increasingly recognised as work. As such, feminist work already caters for this right. We also argue that the achievements of feminists, such as the Legal Age of Majority Act, enable female street vendors to work and enjoy freedom of mobility. Indeed, some Harare-based feminists regard this view as“indisputably capturing how our work aligns with the concerns of female street vendors”.“These are working women who should enjoy the labour rights that we fought for.” However, we must not lose sight of the significant dissonances between the realities and perceptions of feminist work and those of street vendors. Tracing the dissonances: from feminists to womens’ street vendors In order for feminists and street vendors to jointly develop approaches that promote gender equity and, consequently, equality in the informal sector, a deep understanding of the differences between their work and the reality expe- rienced by street vendors is fundamental. While feminist gains are largely at the legal level, there is a gap between law and practice for street vendors. Furthermore, legislative measures are not informed by the diversity of women’s experiences and needs. Therefore, just as laws may not intentionally cover women in the economic periphery, such as street vending, some key feminist principles, such as self­care, may not resonate with the realities of street vendors. The violence suffered by female street vendors highlights the ongoing disconnections between feminist anti-GBV achievements and the realities faced by street vendors. Without detracting from their efforts, feminists must recognise that if female street vendors are still experiencing various forms of GBV, their need for freedom from violence has not been practically addressed. The legislative gains made since the 1980s concern general legislation that can only be realised by those who understand the laws and can demand the rights they confer. Without this power, female street vendors continue to face violence, and consequently, they cannot enjoy the gender justice necessary to claim equality of participation or access to opportunities in the informal sector alongside their male counterparts. Nor can they enjoy the personal freedom, bodily integrity and autonomy that gender justice and equity confer. The same can be said of feminist demands for economic rights, as enshrined in legal instruments such as the 1985 Labour Relations Act, which emphasises decent work and wages, equal pay for equal work, and maternity leave for all women, and ultimately, the 2013 Constitution. However, female street vendors still occupy less lucrative trades and cannot enjoy decent wages. Feminist victories do not address the vendors’ lack of access to the funds needed to venture into high-value trades, which are dominated by men. They are hindered by the highly deterrent criteria for qualifying for loans from both banks and informal lending schemes. The Women’s Economic Bank, which was open in 2020 with the aim of promoting economic gender equity, has high collateral demands which exclude poor women such as street vendors, rendering it an elite facility. Interviews and observations also revealed that street vendors are unable to reap the same benefits from maternity leave as middle-class working women. This may be because the feminist struggles that brought about such benefits never directly addressed the unique experiences of street vendors. As with the right to work and equal pay, the right to maternity leave was articulated for educated, skilled, Feminism and the Informal Sector 5