Women and girls are among those left behind when it comes to expanding trade in Sub-Saharan Africa
AU members will need to take deliberate steps in the design and implementation of gender-sensitive policies and targeted complementary measures, to ensure that women and men benefit equally from trade opportunities under the AfCFTA
by NADIRA BAYAT for Business Day, ZA ( Bayat is a gender and trade consultant at the African Trade Policy Centre of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.)
photo: 123RF/ALEKSANDR DAVYDOV
The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) entered into force on May 30 2019, marking another milestone in the pan-African imperative of an economically integrated Africa. In establishing a market of 1.2-billion people, with a combined GDP of $2.5-trillion, the AfCFTA has been hailed as an economic game-changer, with the potential to drive African industrialisation and economic development and gender equality to the region.
Lifting the barriers that have long divided the continent is accompanied by significant expectations that can only be fulfilled if the benefits from trade expansion are inclusive and the process leaves no one behind.
Across the continent, women and girls are disproportionately among those left behind. Recognising the centrality of gender equality to sustainable inclusive development, has led to a decision by African Union (AU) member states to identify full gender equality in all spheres of life as a priority goal, while the UN sustainable development goal 5 reinforces the existing human rights obligations of states to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The AfCFTA does not incorporate a separate chapter on gender and trade. The preamble of the agreement, however, contains explicit reference to the importance of gender equality for the development of international trade and economic co-operation, and article 3(e) emphasises the promotion of gender equality as one of the general objectives of the AfCFTA.