The last two decades have witnessed an enormous influx of urban women into variousrnincome-generating activities in major towns like Nazareth. Though this observationrnhas been acknowledged in many circles, no particular attention or reference has beenrnmade to women's participation in petty trade activities in the urban informal sector. Arnnumber of key issues pertaining to the stresses and strains experienced by thesernwomen in trying to make ends meet remained unadressed and unresolved.rnHence, the main purpose of this study is to understand, analyses and draw attentionrnto the situation of petty trade women in Nazareth "Gimb Gebya". The study sharplyrnfocused and sought to know the characteristics of women petty trader, particularlyrntheir socio-economic status, the nature of their activities and factors determiningrnsustainability of women informal sector activities. In doing so, the study had an overrnall objective of proposing viable govemment policy interventions aimed at enhancingrnthe productivity of women petty trader activity.rnInorder to achieve this objective, a sample of 200 women petty trader were selectedrnand relevant data were gathered mainly through questionnaire and analyzed usingrndescriptive statistics, and inferential statistics.rnThe finding of the study revealed that, most of these petty trader in the study arearntend to be young, less educated, migrant and dominated by the ethnic group i.e.rnGurage. The study also revealed that the majority joined the informal sector due torneconomic hardships and family responsibility. The majority of women businessesrnwere owned and managed by the women themselves and use their own saving morernoften to finance the start up of their business. They tend to have little or no access torncredit institutions, to formal training and to many public services and amenities.rnThe study also revealed that the level of success interms of growth, expansion andrnthe amount of income generated in a month depended on several fa ctors. It wasrnfound that, Education, Marital Status, Migration Status, Family Size, Size of InitialrnCapital; Type of business location; keeping of records, ownership of propertyrndetermined the amount of income or profit margins of women petty trade activities.rnThis means that any development programme which focuses on women petty traderrnshould consider the strategic and practical need of women.