Based on Kathleen Sheldon’s “Markets and Gardens: Placing Women in the History of Urban Mozambique” (Journal of African History, 2003).
For much of the twentieth century, the history of Mozambique’s cities was told largely through the actions of governments, businessmen, migrant workers, and political leaders. Women appeared only occasionally in that story, usually as wives, mothers, or victims. Yet a closer look at the streets, markets, factories, gardens, and neighbourhoods of cities such as Lourenço Marques (Maputo) and Beira reveals a different reality. Women were not simply living in urban Mozambique—they were helping to build it.
From the colonial era through independence and the difficult decades that followed, women developed countless strategies to survive and support their families. Some cultivated gardens on the edges of growing cities. Others sold vegetables, fruit, charcoal, cooked food, or homemade beer. Many worked in cashew-processing factories, while others found opportunities in domestic labour, informal trade, or small-scale entrepreneurship. Their work often existed outside official definitions of employment, but it was essential to the functioning of urban life.
Women rarely migrated to the city in search of adventure. Most came because rural life had become increasingly difficult. Poverty, widowhood, family breakdown, abusive marriages, disease, drought, and the search for income pushed many women toward urban centres. Once there, they created new social networks and new forms of family life. In many cases, they became heads of households and principal providers.
Colonial authorities often viewed these women with suspicion. African women who lived independently, sold alcohol, traded in public spaces, or formed relationships outside accepted social norms frequently attracted unwanted attention from police and administrators. Activities that generated income for women were often described in official records as social problems rather than economic contributions. Brewing beer, for example, remained an important source of income despite repeated attempts to suppress it. Street vending was similarly criticised even as it helped feed growing urban populations.
One of the most overlooked aspects of women’s contribution was urban agriculture. Across Mozambique's cities, women transformed unused land into productive gardens. They cultivated maize, vegetables, sweet potatoes, cassava, and other crops that supplied households and markets. These gardens softened food shortages, supplemented family incomes, and brought rural knowledge into urban environments. Yet because this work occurred largely outside formal institutions, it often escaped official recognition.
The years following independence in 1975 brought both opportunities and challenges. The new government encouraged some forms of women's economic participation, particularly through agricultural cooperatives and the Green Zones programme around Maputo. These initiatives recognised the importance of food production and sought to support urban agriculture. Women became central participants in many cooperatives, combining agricultural work with broader community organisation.
At the same time, war and economic crisis transformed city life. The conflict between the Frelimo government and Renamo displaced hundreds of thousands of people and accelerated urban growth. Cities absorbed large numbers of refugees seeking safety and opportunity. As populations expanded, pressure on housing, employment, food supplies, water, and transport intensified. Women often carried the heaviest burden, balancing paid work, informal trade, childcare, food production, and household responsibilities.
The decline of the cashew-processing industry during the 1990s dealt another blow. For decades, cashew factories had provided one of the most important sources of wage labour for women. Economic reforms and changing trade policies led to factory closures and job losses, pushing many former workers into the informal economy. Markets became even more important as women sought new ways to earn a living.
Throughout these changes, market women emerged as some of the most visible figures in Mozambique’s urban landscape. They sold produce, household goods, cooked meals, charcoal, clothing, and countless other items. Formal markets expanded, but many vendors continued to operate in streets and open spaces where customers were easier to reach. Their presence sometimes generated conflict with authorities, yet these traders played a crucial role in feeding cities and sustaining local economies.
By the end of the twentieth century, women could be found in nearly every corner of urban economic life. They worked in factories and cooperatives, cultivated gardens, managed market stalls, sold food on sidewalks, organised neighbourhood networks, and supported families through periods of war, scarcity, and economic upheaval. Their labour helped shape the physical, social, and economic development of Mozambique’s cities.
The story of urban Mozambique is therefore not only a story of roads, buildings, governments, and industry. It is also a story of women carrying water, cultivating small plots of land, raising children, selling vegetables in crowded markets, working long factory shifts, and creating opportunities where few existed. Their contribution was often overlooked, but it was fundamental. As historian Kathleen Sheldon argues, placing women at the centre of urban history reveals how deeply they influenced the making of modern Mozambique.
Source: Kathleen Sheldon, “Markets and Gardens: Placing Women in the History of Urban Mozambique,” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, Vol. 37, No. 2/3 (2003), pp. 358–386. JSTOR.