International Women’s Day each year offers an important opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and contributions of women around the world.
However, beyond celebration and symbolic recognition, the day should also serve as a platform for addressing the structural challenges that limit women’s economic participation.
For women engaged in cross-border trade across West Africa, making this day meaningful requires practical actions that protect their economic efforts and strengthen regional food security.
Undoubtedly, Women constitute a significant proportion of informal cross-border traders within the West African region.
Every day, they move agricultural produce, processed foods, textiles, and other essential goods across borders, sustaining markets and supporting livelihoods in both rural and urban communities.
Their trading activities contribute significantly to food distribution networks and ensure the availability of basic commodities across borders.
Barriers
Despite this important role, cross-border women traders continue to face multiple structural barriers that hinder their economic activities.
One of the most concerning challenges is the harassment and extortion that sometimes occur even after traders have complied fully with official customs procedures at designated border entry points.
In several instances, traders report being intercepted by individuals claiming to be operatives of national security agencies after their goods have already been inspected and cleared by mandated customs officials.
These actions create unnecessary non-tariff barriers that disrupt legitimate trade activities.
The alleged operatives often conduct additional checks outside established border management procedures and demand unofficial payments in the name of national security.
For many small-scale traders, particularly women who operate with limited capital, such practices significantly increase the cost of doing business and erode their already modest profits.
Beyond the financial burden, these actions undermine trust in formal border governance systems.
When traders who have complied with legitimate customs procedures are still subjected to harassment, it discourages compliance and weakens confidence in institutional trade facilitation mechanisms.
Over time, such experiences may push traders to avoid official border routes, thereby increasing the risks of informal or unregulated trade practices.
Way Forward
To make the celebration of women truly meaningful, it is important for governments and border management institutions to address these challenges through stronger institutional coordination and accountability.
Once traders have complied with the legitimate procedures conducted by mandated customs authorities, they should be allowed to proceed with their goods without interference from unauthorized actors.
In addition, there is a strong call to support the Cross-Border Traders Identification (ID) Digital Database initiative being promoted by the National Cross-Border Women Traders Association (NCBWTA).
This digital platform seeks to register cross-border traders and provide a credible identification system that documents their activities.
The initiative aims to generate reliable data on the number of traders, the types of goods traded, and the overall volume of cross-border commerce within the region.
The development of such a database will provide several important benefits.
First, it will produce accurate and credible data that can inform policy decisions regarding informal cross-border trade.
Second, it will enhance the financial credibility of traders by providing them with a recognized identity that can facilitate access to credit, microfinance, and other economic support programmes.
Third, the system will help border authorities identify legitimate traders and reduce the opportunities for unauthorized actors to create artificial barriers and exploit traders.
More importantly, protecting the activities of cross-border women traders is directly linked to the broader issue of regional food security. Many of the goods traded by these women include staple food items that move across borders to stabilize market supply.
When their trading activities are obstructed through harassment, extortion, or unnecessary delays, the resulting disruptions can affect the flow of food commodities across the region.
Therefore, the call to make Women’s Day meaningful must include concrete steps that safeguard the economic contributions of women traders.
Eliminating harassment at borders, strengthening institutional accountability, and supporting systems that formally recognize traders will contribute significantly to inclusive trade and sustainable regional development.
As West Africa continues to promote regional integration and economic cooperation, the protection and empowerment of women traders must remain central to policy discussions.
Their efforts not only sustain families and communities but also support regional commerce and food security.
Conclusion
Making International Women’s Day meaningful therefore requires more than celebration.
It requires a commitment to creating fair, transparent, and supportive trade environments where women traders can operate without fear of harassment or exploitation.
Protecting their economic activities is not only a matter of gender equality—it is also a strategic investment in the stability and prosperity of the regional economy.
Source: Access Agric
