Active Participation, Insignificant Gains: The Elusiveness of Gender Equality for African Women in the Liberal Global Economy

By the mid-C20th, feminist analysis began acknowledging the active participation of African women in their countries’ economic systems as producers. However, historically, gains from trade devolve disproportionately to men, a problem compounded by the dominance of governance institutions locally, nationally, regionally and globally by men. Unfortunately, contemporary awareness of uneven gains from trade hasn’t produced transformation in the global political economy. These disparities have extraordinary distributional consequences for gender equality. They stimulate differential responses between economic sectors, producers, and regions, between the Global North and South, as well as between and within African countries. Advancements in trade and the profitability therefrom generate prodigious wealth. Given wide acknowledgment of the need for gender equity and equality, why are disparities in gains from trade still heavily weighted towards men? This paper examines African women’s continued parlous gains plus domestic and international causes and consequences of their marginalization. It also suggests remedies.