Opportunities for Gender Equality in the African Continental Free Trade Area: Drawing Lessons from COMESA

Abstract The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which has been signed by 54 out of the 55 African countries, seeks to create a single continental market for goods and services and facilitate the free movement of people on the continent, thereby boosting and enhancing the competitiveness of intra-African trade. However, while the Agreement Establishing the AfCFTA, under Article 3 (e), emphasises that one of the general objectives of the AfCFTA is to promote gender equality, experiences in other African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) FTAs have proven that gender and gender equality have not been adequately mainstreamed in implementing Free Trade Areas which has resulted in gender inequalities in international trade and commerce. Consequently, the majority of women have been left marginalised in trade and faced with serious challenges in accessing opportunities created by regional trade agreements. This paper sought to examine the potential of the AfCFTA to promote gender equality in Africa through the promotion of intra-African trade opportunities. Using secondary data sources, it drew from the experiences of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in mainstreaming gender in regional trade to proffer recommendations for the AfCFTA. The concepts of gender equality, gender mainstreaming and trade liberalisation were utilised for conceptual analysis. Recommendations of the research are key in presenting possible options for implementing gender-sensitive measures and strategic interventions that address the differentiated implications of the AfCFTA on both men and women such that the AfCFTA delivers more transformative, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development in Africa.