Negotiation, Margins and Social Exclusion: Understanding the Informal Space in Ima Keithel (Women’s Market) Manipur, India

Ima Keithel (Mother’s Market) of Manipur, India is known to the world as a unique center and symbol of women’s empowerment. This 500 years old market has been an important meeting space and trading hub of Manipur, India. The significance of the market is that only women perform various economic activities and women are the only buyers and sellers of this particular market. Owing to social norms, men are restricted from entering the market even as buyers. Existing data shows that majority of the economically active women in developing countries are engaged in informal sector. The proposed research attempt to explore the expanding informal space with the influx of more women primarily engaged as street vendor in search of meagre income and consistent livelihood. An increasing number of street vendors around this market has been witnessed over time and there is a need for a deeper understanding of their economic vulnerability in the context of growing urbanity. This study focuses on the unique traditional ways of negotiating economic spaces by these diverse marginalized women groups with the state and policy makers. The present work will employ ethnographic method, follows intersectional feminist perspective while analyzing the prospects and challenges faced by the marginalized women in informal sector. The ethnographic data that I am going to analyze is collected from August 2021 to July 2022.