A Systematic Review of Informal Enterprise and Women's Economic Agency in Urban Ethiopia, 2010–2025

This systematic literature review synthesises empirical research from 2010 to 2023 to critically examine the relationship between women’s engagement in informal urban enterprises and their economic agency in Ethiopia. It addresses a significant gap in understanding how informal work, a dominant feature of Africa’s urban economies, shapes women’s autonomy, decision-making power, and economic resilience. Employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, the study implemented a replicable search strategy across Scopus, Web of Science, and region-specific databases. Peer-reviewed articles, dissertations, and policy reports were screened against pre-defined inclusion criteria, with data extracted and thematically analysed. The findings reveal that informal enterprises, particularly in trade, food preparation, and domestic work, provide crucial, albeit precarious, pathways to income generation for urban Ethiopian women. The synthesis demonstrates that this engagement is a double-edged sword: while fostering financial independence and social networks, it is severely constrained by entrenched gender norms, limited access to capital, regulatory harassment, and the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work. The review concludes that, without transformative policies addressing these structural barriers, the informal sector’s potential to substantially enhance women’s economic agency remains unrealised. This rigorous synthesis contributes an African-centred perspective to debates on gender-inclusive development, urging a reconceptualisation of the informal economy as a critical site for targeted empowerment interventions.