Pandemic-induced border closures in West Africa and the perils of cross-border Ghanaian women traders

Abstract

Scholarly discussions about COVID-19 in Africa have mainly covered the negative consequences such as overstretched healthcare systems, the crumbling of economies and businesses, and the backsliding of democracy. One key area of scholarly and policy interest is how border closures affected regional businesses and associated economic engagements in Africa. The related discussions, however, fail to significantly engage the details of how the activities of less privileged or peripheral but critical actors in African economies were affected by state-backed border closure policies, and how such players navigated the pandemic-constrained environments and public policy decisions. This article examines how the government of Ghana's border closure regulation affected informal transborder businesses of Ghanaian women plying their trade across the borders in West Africa. The central finding is that the pandemic-induced border closure and strict policing negatively impacted women's cross-border businesses and thus livelihoods in three dimensions: slowed or collapsed businesses, exacerbated the difficulty of non-integrated regional financial systems, and exposure to dangerous routes. The findings indicate that these challenges could potentially further weaken women's position in economic transactions in Africa.