Engendering China-Africa development cooperation: A Southern feminist perspective

Abstract

Motivation

China's leadership has increasingly articulated commitments to gender equality and women's development within international cooperation frameworks, including successive Beijing Action Plans. However, research and policy debates on China-Africa development cooperation continue to prioritize macroeconomic, financial, and geopolitical analyses, paying limited attention to gendered impacts at the project and community levels.

Purpose

This article examines the gap between how gender is framed in China's international development cooperation policies and how China's development initiatives shape gendered outcomes across African and other contexts of the Global South.

Approach and Methods

The article applies a Southern feminist research approach, grounded in dialogue, co-production of knowledge, and critical self-reflection. It draws on textual analyses of China's official documents alongside DAWN's collaborative empirical research on the gendered impacts of China's development initiatives in the Global South.

Findings

Engendering China-Africa cooperation through a Southern feminist perspective requires reimagining development cooperation as a political, relational, and rights-based process. This means moving beyond narrow notions of women's development towards a transformative agenda that addresses structural inequalities, amplifies women's agency, and builds shared accountability across borders. As cooperation continues to expand in scale and scope, integrating Southern feminist knowledge and practice will be crucial to ensuring it advances not only economic development but also gender justice and women's human rights.

Policy Implications

Key implications include integrating gender analysis into project design and evaluation, strengthening gender-responsive due diligence and accountability in overseas investment, and supporting African feminist and civil society participation as essential partners in development cooperation.