A TRADING TRANSFORMATION: WELCOME TO THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA (AFCTFA)

Across the world, countries are turning away from global cooperation, leadership, and collective action, and questioning integration. Political dynamics are driving short-termism, polarization, and isolationism. Yet threats like the pandemic, the education crisis, and gender disparities demand long-term thinking and greater cooperation—and in this way, countries across Africa are taking a different approach: While the world is fracturing, the African Union is integrating, deepening ties across the continent, especially through the African Continental Free Trade Area.

This landmark deal has the potential to be transformational for women: Indeed, women account for around 70 percent of informal cross-border traders in Africa. For generations, African women have crossed borders trading in food, textiles, crafts, manufactured goods, and even minerals. Women traders often face cultural, physical, and legal barriers. Furthermore, women more often face pressure to bribe customs agents, who are usually male. A well-implemented AfCFTA will reduce transaction costs, increase profits, and enable informal women traders to operate through formal channels, eliminating gender-based violence and providing a safe working environment.

In the longer term, the agreement could unleash a powerful force of women entrepreneurs across the continent. In addition, a growing manufacturing sector bolstered by the AfCFTA will provide new job opportunities, especially for women. As AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene rightly stated, the AfCFTA “will be the opportunity to close the gender income gap, and the opportunity for SMEs [small and medium enterprises] to access new markets.”