AFRICAN Women Network on AfCFTA (AWNA) has called for the elimination of all gender barriers that discriminate against the full participation and benefits of women in the African Free Continental Trade Agreements (AfCFTA).
This position was canvassed at a workshop and formal launch of the African Women Network on AfCFTA in Abuja, with support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).
Participants at the workshop said there is the need to making AfCFTA work for women, noting that barriers such as access to finance, information and low representation of women in decision making positions should be addressed.
Speaking during the launch, AWNA Africa President, Marie Thiam, said for decades, African women have been trapped in cycles of poverty due to several underlying factors, including unequal access to education, production factors and market facilities, unfair labour, underpaid or unpaid labour, harmful cultural practices and limited legal protection against entrenched gender-inequitable practices.
She said with the implementation of the AfCFTA, launched in January 2021, expectations are high for expanded prospects for women-led businesses and women in all areas, saying, “AFCFTA will unleash the potential for African women to develop their businesses from micro-enterprises to macro-enterprises.”
The agreement establishing the AfCFTA recognises the need to build and improve the export capacity of formal and informal service providers, with particular attention to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in which women and youth actively participate.
Thiam said, “In addition, the AfCFTA protocols on trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy provide clear guidelines to ensure the protection of emerging businesses and infant industries, thus giving impetus to the Agenda 2063 goals of gender equality, women’s empowerment and youth development.”
She explained that AWNA was created out of the desire to break the cycle of poverty and inequality by advocating for the development and implementation of gender-sensitive public and legal policies, frameworks that will create a wider range of opportunities for women and that will lead to their economic empowerment at the national, sub-regional regional and continental levels.
She said AWNA will also train the women on other issues such as banking, credit access, climate change, among others.
Also speaking, Comrade Mustapha Hauwa, the Nigeria National Coordinator of AWNA, said there is need to promote opportunities and benefits for women in Africa within the context of trade.
She explained that the implementation of AfCFTA will impact on men and women differently and there is need to remove barriers that will prevent women from fully benefiting from the AfCFTA.
John Odah, Secretary General of Organisation of Trade Unions of West Africa (OTUWA), in his goodwill message, said OTUWA will collaborate with AWNA to ensure that the issues that affect women in trade are brought to the fore in the AfCFTA.
