An intersectional examination of socio-economic challenges and resilience strategies of Nigerian female economic migrants in Durban’s informal hairdressing sector, South Africa.

Abstract

This study presents a critical and intersectional examination of the socio-economic challenges and resilience strategies of Nigerian female economic migrants operating within Durban’s informal hairdressing sector. Positioned within the broader context of South–South migration and African feminist frameworks, the study interrogates how migrant women navigate intersecting regimes of exclusion ranging from gendered xenophobia and precarious legal status to spatial marginalisation and institutional neglect within a post-apartheid city marked by structural violence. The study adopts a qualitative research approach grounded in interpretivist and feminist epistemologies, privileging meaning-making, context, and subjective experience as core sources of knowledge. Using a decolonial feminist methodology and drawing on semi-structured interviews with migrant hairdressers, the research centres lived experience as both evidence and epistemology. The analysis is guided by three intersecting theoretical frameworks: Intersectionality Theory, Structuration Theory, and Bourdieu’s Capital Theory. Findings reveal that these women are not merely passive recipients of exclusion but active urban agents, mobilising embodied, relational, and symbolic forms of capital to assert visibility, economic survival, and informal legitimacy. Their work constitutes not only economic labour but a form of spatial, aesthetic, and political presence, what this study conceptualises as “secondary urban citizenship”. Rather than depicting informality as a deficit, the dissertation re-theorises the informal hair economy as a site of feminist resistance, everyday innovation, and urban co-production. The study contributes to emerging literature that seeks to decolonise migration theory and centre African women’s voices as theorists of urban life. The research culminates in key policy and practice recommendations. These include the design of gender-sensitive municipal permit frameworks, the provision of inclusive and healthcare access for undocumented entrepreneurs, and the institutional recognition of migrant-led informal enterprises in urban economic planning. At a broader level, it calls for transnational policy dialogues between Nigeria and South Africa that acknowledge the realities of South–South migration and foreground the rights and contributions of migrant women. In doing so, the dissertation offers both theoretical advancement and actionable insights for re-imagining inclusive African urban futures.