Continent Free Trade Area should help close gender equality gaps in Africa

Abstract

The signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in March 2018 in Kigali set the stage for the integration of the African continent into a single market. To ensure that women are not left out of this historic process, the Economic Commission for Africa’s Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) teamed-up with TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) and hosted a high-level roundtable dinner on ‘Harnessing the AfCFTA for Gender equality’ Tuesday night at the 22 Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) for Eastern Africa. Eastern Africa’s performance on gender equality is mixed. In in the political sphere there is a lot of progress as shown by Ethiopia, Rwanda and Seychelles. But in the economic sphere progress is lagging. ECA Deputy Executive Secretary, Giovanie Biha, said; “Despite improved political representation, cultural barriers are still impeding gender equality and societal change on the continent.” She said there was need for experts to ensure the AfCFTA opened up new opportunities for women, and help them integrate more fully into productive, high-paid sectors of the economy. Eastern African countries were urged to work with the foresight to guarantee that trade policies were designed while taking into account gender-specific outcomes or such policies risked magnifying existing gender gaps.