Contact Us

Informal Financial Service Institutions for Survival: African Women and Stokvels in Urban South Africa, 1930-1998

  1. Home
  2. >>
  3. History
  4. >>
  5. Economic History
  6. >>
  7. Financial Markets, Financial Institutions,...
  8. >>
  9. Banks/Banking
  10. >>
  11. Informal Financial Service Institutions...
Informal Financial Service Institutions for Survival: African Women and Stokvels in Urban South Africa, 1930-1998
Author(s)Verhoef, Grietjie
AbstractTraditional kinship relations denied African women access to property and cash income. As they moved out of the traditional sector to urban centers, women created opportunities for independent earnings, and they displayed remarkable entrepreneurial spirit in undertaking informal economic activities. One of their tactics was the utilization of a type of rotating credit and savings organization (ROSCA), the stokvel, to mobilize savings outside the formal financial structure. This article brings together scattered research on stokvels, traces their past and present uses by African women, and concludes with an exploration of the reasons for the persistence of these forms despite the development of sophisticated financial structures in modern South Africa.
IssueNo2
Pages259-96
ArticleAccess to Article
SourceEnterprise & Society
VolumeNo2
PubDateJune2001
ISBN_ISSN1467-2227
Browse Path(s)


Boston University | ECI | Contact Us

Copyright Notification: The Social Science Library (SSL) is for distribution in a defined set of countries. The complete list may be found here. Free distribution within these countries is encouraged, but copyright law forbids distribution outside of these countries.