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Legal segmentation and early colonialism in sub‐Saharan Africa: Informality and the colonial exploitative legal employment standard

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  • Heiner FECHNER

Abstract

Labour markets in sub‐Saharan Africa are characterized by a gendered division between formal and informal sectors. This article argues that this division originates from a rationality introduced by racist and gendered colonial legal segmentation, produced by a variety of legal regimes in and beyond employment law. Labour market segmentation in postcolonial settings cannot be understood or overcome without analysing the specific colonial institutional origins of the commodification of labour. In sub‐Saharan Africa, the “colonial exploitative legal employment standard” that commodified labour focused on black African male employees for European employers, excluding or marginalizing women and domestic labour relations.

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  • Heiner FECHNER, 2022. "Legal segmentation and early colonialism in sub‐Saharan Africa: Informality and the colonial exploitative legal employment standard," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 161(4), pages 615-634, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:161:y:2022:i:4:p:615-634
    DOI: 10.1111/ilr.12350
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Diamond Ashiagbor, 2021. "Race and Colonialism in the Construction of Labour Markets and Precarity," Industrial Law Journal, Industrial Law Society, vol. 50(4), pages 506-531.
    2. Daviron, Benoit, 2010. "Mobilizing labour in African agriculture: the role of the International Colonial Institute in the elaboration of a standard of colonial administration, 1895–1930," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 479-501, November.
    3. Juif, Dácil & Frankema, Ewout, 2018. "From coercion to compensation: institutional responses to labour scarcity in the Central African Copperbelt," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 313-343, April.
    4. Ulrich MÜCKENBERGER & Irene DINGELDEY, 2022. "Introduction: Worldwide patterns of legal segmentation in employment law," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 161(4), pages 511-534, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ulrich MÜCKENBERGER & Irene DINGELDEY, 2022. "Introduction: Worldwide patterns of legal segmentation in employment law," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 161(4), pages 511-534, December.

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