Border Management and Gender Issues in sub-Saharan Africa’s Cross-Border Trade under COVID-19

Abstract The study is an analysis of border management in relation to the gender structure of cross-border trade in sub-Saharan Africa. It is partly a response to recent policy briefs of the United Nations on gender issues under COVID-19. The study adopted a historical approach and combined data from personal fieldwork with those from both published and unpublished works. It posits that there still exists gross gender imbalance in the region’s cross-border trade and that the agencies in charge of border control can do more to minimise the imbalance. One of its key findings is that policies protecting small-scale cross-border commerce constitute one means of increasing the participation of women and therefore reducing gender imbalance in the system. Among its recommendations is the adoption of relevant initiatives of regional organisations and international agencies that have given gender issues in cross-border trade a priority and embarked on relevant fieldwork on the way forward.