Spotlight: Nicola Maloba, FEMNET

FEMNET’s work on gender and trade justice is unique in that it stems from our broader objective of promoting women's economic rights and social justice throughout Africa. We recognized early on that trade policies and economic agreements disproportionately affect women, particularly those engaged in informal and small-scale trade. This led us to advocate for including gender perspectives in trade negotiations. Our engagement in trade justice is not just about challenging policies that marginalize women but also about pushing for gender-responsive trade policies that can help bridge economic inequalities.

 Through research, campaigning, and coalition-building, FEMNET highlights the impact of trade agreements, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), on women merchants and workers. Our collaborations with civil society organizations, legislators, and regional entities are not just partnerships; they represent a collective effort to promote gender-responsive trade policies. This inclusive approach ensures that everyone's voice is heard in pursuing equitable pay, decent working conditions, and improved access to resources for women entrepreneurs.

At FEMNET, we’ve been actively working to advance gender and trade justice through research, capacity building, and advocacy. Our current project, the African Feminist Trade Policy, is a significant step forward. By interrogating the gender dynamics of trade agreements and sharing perspectives of an African Feminist Trade Policy, we are making substantial progress in providing feminist recommendations for trade policymakers. This builds on our past initiatives, like the Gender Impact Analysis of Irresponsible Corporate Behaviour in Regional Trade and Value Chains and The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Women: A Pan-African Feminist Analysis, of which we are all proud.

 Regarding capacity building, we hosted two African Feminist Macroeconomy Academies (AFMA) in 2024—one focused on feminist approaches to financing for development and another on the feminization of agriculture in food security and climate resilience. Both addressed gender and trade-related topics. Additionally, to strengthen the advocacy skills and knowledge of African women’s rights organizations, feminist movements, and researchers, we launched an e-learning portal offering short courses on women’s economic justice, rights, and macroeconomic policies—soon to include a new course on gender and trade.

On the advocacy front, FEMNET is engaging in global financial discussions. As part of the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, for instance, we’re ensuring that African feminist voices are heard in shaping fairer trade, tax, and investment policies and exploring how the Fourth Conference on Financing for Development can help address the issues African countries face within the global financial architecture.

The Gender and Trade Coalition (GTC) has been instrumental in contesting inequitable trade policies by centering feminist perspectives in global trade discussions. On one hand, the GTC pushes back against neoliberal trade paradigms that favor corporate interests at the expense of human rights, especially those of women, laborers, and marginalized groups. It highlights how trade agreements disproportionately harm women in the informal economy, small-scale agriculture, and manufacturing sectors. At the same time, it also significantly contributes to the fight by advocating for gender-equitable trade policies that promote fairness, fair compensation, and labor rights.

Another major contribution of the GTC is its ability to mobilize collective resistance to oppose unfair trade regulations. By bringing together feminist organizations, labor unions, and activists in policy debates and campaigns, the GTC amplifies the voices of those often excluded from decision-making spaces and strengthens the movement for trade justice.