Street vendors in Kathmandu
In Kathmandu, thousands earn their living selling goods on streets, sidewalks and in other public places. Due to a steady stream of migrants from rural areas, the number of street vendors grows daily.
Some consider street vendors a nuisance because they obstruct pedestrians and vehicles, however they face considerable obstacles – ranging from expulsion from vending locations to sexual harassment.
According to a research study published in the Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, the municipal government needs to properly manage street vendors by legalizing street vending and providing safe and suitable locations away from busy roads for them to operate their businesses.
The study, by Neera Shrestha, collected gender-based information on street vendors in Kathmandu, including their income and expenditures, health condition, and the factors that led them toward street vending.
Shrestha found that in most cases, income generation is a secondary role for women but the primary role for men. Both male and female street vendors use their income mainly to provide basic needs for their families. Street vendors suffer from a variety of health problems, the most common of which are gastritis, headache, back pain, cold and fever.
The study also found that 90 per cent of male street vendors are literate, compared to just 55 per cent of female street vendors. Both women and men street vendors generally lack awareness of computers and business/marketing-related technologies.
“Even if most street vendors have no higher education, they need to learn information technology as they live and work in the age of information technology,” the author concludes. The Nepal Street Vendors Association “should, therefore, provide the relevant training to street vendors in order that their knowledge and capacity might be increased.”
For more information about the research, please contact:
Neera Shrestha
Faculty of Management/Women Studies
Tribhuvan University, Padma Kanya M. Campus
Bagbazar, Kathmandu, Nepal
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +(977)-01-4246497; Mobile: +(977)-01-9849066703
About Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH)
Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH) is published by Universiti Putra Malaysia in English and is open to authors around the world regardless of nationality. It is published four times a year in March, June, September and December. Other Pertanika series include Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS), and Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology (JST).
JSSH aims to develop as a pioneer journal for the social sciences with a focus on emerging issues pertaining to the social and behavioural sciences as well as the humanities. Areas relevant to the scope of the journal include Social Sciences—Accounting, anthropology, Archaeology and history, Architecture and habitat, Consumer and family economics, Economics, Education, Finance, Geography, Law, Management studies, Media and communication studies, Political sciences and public policy, Population studies, Psychology, Sociology, Technology management, Tourism; Humanities—Arts and culture, Dance, Historical and civilisation studies, Language and Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious studies, Sports.
The journal publishes original academic articles dealing with research on issues of worldwide relevance. The journals cater for scientists, professors, researchers, post-docs, scholars and students who wish to promote and communicate advances in the fields of Social Sciences & Humanities research.
For more information about the journal, contact:
The Chief Executive Editor (UPM Journals)
Head, Journal Division, UPM Press
Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (R&I)
IDEA Tower 2, UPM-MDTC Technology Centre
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang, Selangor
Malaysia.
Phone: +(603) 8947 1622 | +(6016) 217 4050
Email: [email protected]
Date of Release: 8 August, 2014.
Acknowledgements
The Chief Executive Editor, UPM Journals
