grassroots financial initiatives would be a great‘marriage’ between the feminist movement’s work at the NGO level and in street vendors lived experiences. xxiv 6. Mobilize for more inclusive social protection programs centred on informal workers through sustained political advocacy Dialogue should be established between street vendors and relevant ministries to reflect on how maternity leave, childcare and healthcare support can be made accessible to street vendors. These are important women’s labour rights and also relevant aspects of the feminist principle of self­care. The needs of women street vendors must be incorporated into the social protection advocacy agenda. 7. Address Gender-Based Violence(GBV)- including sextortion. It is encouraged that there be explicit inclusion of sextortion in national anti-corruption and GBV legislation. Legal clarity is essential in order to differentiate sextortion from consensual sex and conventional bribery, and to reflect the coercion involved. Accessible, anonymous and hence safe gender-sensitive reporting mechanisms such as toll-free helplines, mobile-based reporting tools, or community ombudspersons are also needed so that women who do not report abuse due to fear of retaliation, stigma, or disbelief can then safely do so. Authorities should undergo regular, mandatory training to help them recognise, prevent and respond appropriately to GBV, including sextortion, on the streets. Perpetrators must be held accountable through transparent disciplinary systems in order to challenge patriarchal structures that normalise such GBV. 8. Gender-transformative Research on the Informal Sector There is a significant lack of comprehensive, gender transformative and feminist data capturing the specific challenges, needs and contributions of female informal workers. Without this knowledge, feminist advocacy and government policy interventions risk being misaligned or ineffective. Including women in informal economies in the design and production of knowledge about their own lives validates their experiences, amplifies their voices and strengthens their capacity to demand justice and structural change. CONCLUSION Although women dominate street vending in Zimbabwe’s informal sector, they continue to face entrenched gender inequities that constrain their livelihoods, despite their own active coping strategies. Feminist gains since the 1980s, such as legal protection from violence, mobility and the right to work and bodily autonomy, remain largely inaccessible to street vendors. Their struggles have been overlooked in favour of those of middle-class, formally employed women who are better positioned to claim such rights. Barriers faced by vendors include unequal earnings, a lack of maternity protection, an absence of child support systems and exclusion from credit facilities such as those offered by the Women’s Empowerment Bank. This discrepancy reveals how feminist engagement, when framed through elite and homogenising discourses, has often overlooked intersectional realities shaped by class, occupation and education. To bridge this gap, collaboration between feminists and vendors­especially through intersectional approaches­should highlight diverse lived experiences and prioritize clear legal frameworks against GBV, grounded in community-driven feminist messaging, inclusive financial policies, and investment in gender transformative research. Such measures are essential for advancing meaningful gender justice praxis in the informal economy. Feminism and the Informal Sector 9