Women street vendors: Some field realities from West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh

Street vending is one of the important economic activities carried on by women of West Siang District. It has been a catalyst of socio-economic development. It provides employment, empowerment and emancipation to women of the study areas. It provides employment to the maximum number of women who falls under 45–55 either on regular or part-time basis. However, 35 percent of women street vendors of the West Siang District are illiterate. So, it is implied that there is higher participation of older and illiterate women in street vending activities. Most of them have been working for 6 to 8 hours in a day earning between Rs 7001 to 9000 per month. It is pertinent to note that 70 percent of street women vendors have started their business with their own capital than being financed by financial institutions. Fascinatingly, they deal mostly with variety of green vegetables which are being purchased from nearby villagers of the study districts. Thus, the women street vendors have been providing livelihoods to many of villagers. With this background, the paper makes an attempt to study accessibility of women street vendors to institutional finance in West Siang District. Also it endeavors to examine working hours and monthly average gross income of women vendors.