The Member of Parliament for Klottey-Korle, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has called for structural reforms to remove long-standing barriers that prevent African women from fully participating in agribusiness, trade and national development.
Speaking at the 2025 Pan-African Women’s Day Commemoration held on Thursday, July 31, 2025, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings identified land ownership as one of the main challenges facing women in agriculture.
She noted that, although women contribute significantly to agricultural work across the continent, many are unable to own land and are therefore excluded from formal financial systems.
“They cannot use the land they work on as collateral to access credit,” she said. “Ironically, studies show that women have better loan repayment rates, yet they face the highest barriers when seeking credit.”
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings also addressed the situation of women involved in cross-border trade, who she said make up about 90 per cent of traders in that space.
She suggested the deployment of female customs and immigration officers at all border posts as a practical way to support and protect women traders who often face harassment and exploitation.
Turning to the subject of reparations, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings argued that the transatlantic slave trade should be seen as a war in which millions of Africans were captured and taken away as prisoners.
She said reparations should not only be financial, but also come in the form of physical investments in infrastructure, technology and energy that can help African countries move forward.
She proposed two further steps to support women’s progress on the continent.
First, she called for the production of short video profiles of women in the Pan-African Parliament to inspire younger generations. “If they can see it, they can aspire to it,” she said, explaining that visibility of accomplished African women in leadership is necessary to raise the ambition of girls across the continent.
Second, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings urged caution in efforts to shift women away from traditional cooperative systems.
She said many of these systems already function effectively at the community level, often more efficiently than formalised structures.
She encouraged financial institutions to rethink their approach and design services that align with the way these local cooperatives already operate.
She ended by drawing attention to the widespread issue of unpaid labour performed by women. “We must put a financial value on the unpaid labour of women on the continent in order to make sure that more women are empowered,” she said.
