Abstract
International trade agreements are increasingly concerned with gender inequality and the gendered structures and impacts of trade. This 'gendering' of trade reflects the emergence of new trade policy norms and raises questions about whether this represents a transformational turn. This article explores these questions through a focus on women engaged in informal cross border trade (ICBT) in Africa and their inclusion in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). It argues that a comprehensive approach to understanding the gendered structures of trade and the transformational potential of gender-sensitive trade agreements, needs to be located within a multi-scalar and relational analysis that centers gendered, racialized and classed inequalities within specific geographic, social, and historic contexts. For AfCFTA, this requires rethinking how international trade is conceptualized and operates, particularly through the colonial, gendered and liminal spaces of national borders and the informal economy. It argues that while recent trade agreements embrace commitments to gender equality, they serve to embed free trade orthodoxy and reproduce rather than resolve inequality. This not only questions the remit of AfCFTA's gender provisions, but also the transformational potential of Pan-Africanist integration.