Africa’s free trade area can benefit women equally through targeted measures, says UNECA director

Abstract

Targeted measures are needed to ensure opportunities arising from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) benefit women and men equally across the region. Women are not a homogeneous group. AfCFTA will affect them differently based on their education, economic status and location. Understanding the gender impacts of trade under AfCFTA is critical in ensuring equality of opportunity for women and men. However, similar to global trends, women are not benefiting from international trade as much as men. According to the International Trade Centre, only one per cent of the global government procurement market is currently offered to women-owned businesses. Research shows that this imbalance reduces GDP and perpetuates poverty, unproductive and inequality. To address this gap, three recommendations with the round-table participants. First, countries need to adopt a gender-sensitive approach to the national implementation of AfCFTA, especially in areas that directly affect women.