Investing in our women: Unlocking Africa's economic potential through targeted empowerment, inclusion

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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) recognises the private sector as a critical stakeholder and partner in economic development, providing income, jobs, goods, and services to enhance people's lives. However, the lopsided definition of the private sector overlooks the vast army of operators in the informal sector, where most women in Africa operate, thus masking the significant contribution of women to the overall economy.

In the realm of economic informality, little knowledge exists, and the limited information available often highlights problems in the sector rather than its underlying operation, logic, and institutions. Economic informality is frequently viewed as survivalist, criminal, temporary, and old-fashioned. Additionally, available data in this sector is not disaggregated by gender, obscuring the labour participation of men and women and limiting the appreciation of women's role in generating employment and fostering economic empowerment.