Street Vendors Act, 2014: Lacunae of Gender Perspective

Abstract

Street vendors are an important part of the urban economy by providing livelihoods to millions of people in India and around the world. They contribute significantly to the local economy through creating job opportunities, and provide goods and services to the poor. However, they face lots of challenges including lack of social security, harassment, poor working conditions, and competition from formal retail sectors, police and municipal authorities. The street vendors especially women need to create a supportive and regulated environment where vendors can grow their business. Unfortunately, the weakness of the Street Vendor Act 2014 is that it focused on accessibility of public space and licence for street vendors but it does not pay attention the gender specific challenges faced by female vendors. The Act also suffers from a lack of gendered perspective. Thus, this study will focus to identify the weakness of street vendors act 2014 and suggests suitable remedies as well as a gender-inclusive act should be implemented that will improve the status of female street vendors and give them equal access to opportunities, protection, and rights.