South Africa’s Minister of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, has called for women’s voices to be heard in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane spoke during a virtual conference on leveraging the agreement to boost women’s economic empowerment jointly organized by the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), a unit of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); and Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), a private sector organization.
The minister noted that women and young people remained among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the need for a gender-sensitive post-COVID-19 economic recovery. On inclusive AfCFTA implementation, the minister emphasized the importance of extending the benefits of the AfCFTA to both formal and informal sector women, disability, and youth enterprises.
“This means that we must address issues of challenges in access to markets, provide skills development and training, provide appropriate education, increase opportunities to funding and credit, increase access and training in new technologies and provide marketing networks. It is therefore critical for women’s voices to be taken on board in the implementation of the trade pact “.
Ms. Nkoana-Mashabane
In his remarks, the Coordinator of the ATPC, Mr. David Luke, said the conference was taking place one month after trading started under the AfCFTA treaty on January 1, 2021, when the world was grappling with recovery from the worst economic crisis for nearly a century.
According to Mr. Luke, the extent to which women will be able to take advantage of opportunities created through the AfCFTA agreement in priority economic sectors, in e-commerce and regional value chains is dependent on the design and implementation of gender-responsive policies and complementary measures that reduce discrimination toward women while mitigating the potential risks from AfCFTA implementation.
During the panel discussions, other speakers dealt with the critical relationship between gender and AfCFTA Phase II issues of investment, competition policy, and intellectual property rights, while exploring actions to support a gender-responsive AfCFTA trade facilitation agenda.
The outcome of the conference will be used to support the design of gender-responsive measures that will help to build back better in a post-COVID-19 economy, accelerating delivery on the 2020-2030 African Women’s Decade of Financial and Economic Inclusion.
The AfCFTA agreement entered into force on 30th May 2019 after the treaty was ratified by 22 countries, the minimum number required by the treaty. It provides an opportunity for Africa to create the world’s largest free trade area with the potential to unite more than 1.2 billion people in a $2.5 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development. It has the potential to generate a range of benefits through supporting trade creation, structural transformation, productive employment, and poverty reduction.
The AfCFTA promotes entrepreneurship and economic empowerment opportunities for women-owned businesses through increased access to new regional export markets and expanded opportunities across key sectors. Except for Eritrea, the remaining 54 member-countries of the African Union (AU) have signed the treaty establishing the AfCFTA among which 36 have ratified the agreement.
