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8 - Conclusions

The Gendered Limits of Agency in a Neoliberal World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2019

Eglė Česnulytė
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
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Summary

Chapter 8 brings together questions of sex work and agency to reflect on gender under neoliberalism. First, the chapter makes a claim about the gendered nature of making a living, with women’s options being defined by informality and depending on male income in exchange for their social reproductive labour. Women who cannot strike a traditional bargain with patriarchy are left in precarity, and some of them choose sex work as one of these precarious informal ways for making a living, so pointing to thegendered inequalities that neoliberal practice builds upon. Second, the chapter points to the neoliberal agency that is possible in these gendered and constrained structures. Women can instrumentalise gendered inequalities for their own progression and accumulation purposes. Discussions about the work strategies and life plans of women selling sex point to such possibilities if they internalise market logic and successfully embrace their neoliberal self in the violent everyday realities. However, as the third part of the chapter shows, such agency is an option available only to a few, and those who cannot or do not manage to negotitate competitive markets for their own advantage remain in gendered precarity and are guided by the logic of livelihood.

Type
Chapter
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Selling Sex in Kenya
Gendered Agency under Neoliberalism
, pp. 172 - 184
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Conclusions
  • Eglė Česnulytė, University of Bristol
  • Book: Selling Sex in Kenya
  • Online publication: 18 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108625197.008
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  • Conclusions
  • Eglė Česnulytė, University of Bristol
  • Book: Selling Sex in Kenya
  • Online publication: 18 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108625197.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusions
  • Eglė Česnulytė, University of Bristol
  • Book: Selling Sex in Kenya
  • Online publication: 18 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108625197.008
Available formats
×