{
  "id": 5395058,
  "title": "From recognition to redistribution: Women’s leadership and the future of Africa’s economy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/from-recognition-to-redistribution-womens-leadership-and-the-future",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-03T19:14:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/from-recognition-to-redistribution-womens-leadership-and-the-future-of-africas-economy/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The challenge for Africa's economic growth lies not in incorporating women into existing systems, but in fundamentally transforming these systems that depend on women's labor while denying them power, resources, and acknowledgment. Across the continent, millions of women quietly sustain economies and communities through their work in markets, cooperatives, and home-based businesses. Their leadership and influence, however, remain largely absent from mainstream narratives.\n\nWomen in Africa perform a vast array of tasks, from preparing meals and caring for family members to managing households and running businesses. Despite their significant contributions, much of their labor remains invisible in economic statistics, undervalued in policy, and overlooked in development discussions. While acknowledging the importance of including women, the more pressing question is why economic systems continue to rely on women's labor while marginalizing it.\n\nThe term \"informal economy\" is problematic, suggesting marginality and disorder when, in reality, many informal activities are highly organized and governed by strong social institutions. Women have built systems of trade, finance, dispute resolution, and social protection that often function more effectively than formal institutions. The issue is not the lack of value in these activities; it is the failure of economic frameworks to recognize and reward them.\n\nA fundamental contradiction lies in the gendered division of labor, where women bear the burden of unpaid care and domestic work across Africa. This work, essential for the functioning of all economic activity, remains unpaid and largely absent from national accounts and policy debates. The formal economy benefits from this invisible labor without offering recognition or compensation in return.\n\nWomen have, however, consistently organized and built their own economic institutions. In Senegal, women-led tontines provide financial services and social protection where formal banks are absent. In Nigeria, market associations serve as commercial networks and political arenas where women negotiate with authorities and defend their livelihoods. In Ghana, market queens regulate supply chains and mediate disputes, demonstrating the power of women's collective leadership.\n\nAcross Kenya, women's savings groups and digital financial networks have expanded access to finance and economic opportunities. In South Africa, women traders persist despite regulatory challenges. In Ethiopia and Morocco, women-led cooperatives have strengthened bargaining power and generated income. These stories are not merely tales of entrepreneurship; they represent resistance, institution-building, and the pursuit of collective power.\n\nIt is crucial to recognize that women's exclusion is not uniform, as gender intersects with class, ethnicity, geography, migration status, age, and disability. Policies that treat women as a homogenous group risk exacerbating existing inequalities. Success stories of women's movements, traders' associations, cooperatives, and savings groups highlight that women are not passive recipients of development; they are active architects of change.",
  "summary": "\"The challenge is not to include women in existing economic systems. It is to transform systems that depend on their labour while denying them power, resources, and recognition.\" Across Africa, millions of women quietly sustain economies, communities, and social networks that often go unnoticed. From market stalls and street-side enterprises to cooperatives and home-based businesses, these women…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}