TY - JOUR
T1 - Hustling over the life course :
T2 - reconciling cultural norms and socio-economic realities for young mothers in Nairobi, Kenya
AU - Kim, Seung Wan
AU - Stoebenau, Kirsten
AU - Omuya, Milka
AU - Muthoni, Ann
AU - Musyoki, Raphael
AU - Nyambura, Rukia
AU - Ambula, Victor
PY - 2025/9
Y1 - 2025/9
N2 - This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 50 mothers and 31 fathers from the Jamaa na Afya ya Mtoto (JAMO) project to examine the role of “hustling” in romantic relationships and motherhood in low-income communities in Nairobi, Kenya. Using a life-course lens and grounded in the “doing gender” framework, we explore how young mothers engage in hustling to pursue socially recognized adulthood. Thematic analysis reveals two key forms: hustling in motherhood—balancing caregiving with income generation—and hustling in marriage—legitimizing unions through bridewealth involvement and endurance. In a context of economic precarity and limited institutional support, hustling becomes not only a survival strategy but also a gendered practice through which adulthood is performed, reinforced, and at times subtly contested. This study highlights how young adults navigate fragmented life-course trajectories amid shifting gender expectations and material conditions, ultimately reshaping emerging norms around gender, work, and family in low-income urban settings in Africa.
AB - This paper draws on qualitative interviews with 50 mothers and 31 fathers from the Jamaa na Afya ya Mtoto (JAMO) project to examine the role of “hustling” in romantic relationships and motherhood in low-income communities in Nairobi, Kenya. Using a life-course lens and grounded in the “doing gender” framework, we explore how young mothers engage in hustling to pursue socially recognized adulthood. Thematic analysis reveals two key forms: hustling in motherhood—balancing caregiving with income generation—and hustling in marriage—legitimizing unions through bridewealth involvement and endurance. In a context of economic precarity and limited institutional support, hustling becomes not only a survival strategy but also a gendered practice through which adulthood is performed, reinforced, and at times subtly contested. This study highlights how young adults navigate fragmented life-course trajectories amid shifting gender expectations and material conditions, ultimately reshaping emerging norms around gender, work, and family in low-income urban settings in Africa.
KW - Hustling
KW - Gender
KW - Mothers
KW - Low Income
KW - Urban
KW - Kenya
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105010311731
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/236d3049-ccde-32e4-9322-26509a84d22a/
U2 - 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100691
DO - 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100691
M3 - Article
C2 - 40652616
SN - 1569-4909
VL - 65
JO - Advances in Life Course Research
JF - Advances in Life Course Research
M1 - 100691
ER -