FEMNET | An African Feminist Perspective on FfD4

An African Feminist Perspective on FfD4

By femnet
22 May 2025

The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) is poised to be a pivotal platform for rethinking and reforming the global financial framework. The Financing for Development (FfD) framework established by the United Nations can potentially restructure global economic governance and economic systems to support better progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and fully realise human rights for all, especially those most marginalised by the present system. However, its practical outcomes often fail to address gendered structural inequalities adequately. These inequities are particularly conspicuous in Africa, where the lingering effects of colonialism and neoliberal economics converge to affect African women and girls adversely. FfD4 is taking place when the global geo-political context is in a complex socio-economic and climate crisis. Recognising these intersecting injustices requires employing African feminist perspectives as a guiding lens for FfD4.

Postcolonial feminist scholars assert that deconstructing inherited colonial power structures and challenging the contemporary neoliberal finance system is not only theoretical; its urgency is manifested in tangible, gendered injustices. In Africa’s export zones, women receive as little as US$ $2 daily for sewing garments for international brands. Likewise, women working in artisanal mining extract ore across the continent’s mineral-rich regions without protective rights or decent pay. Work on feminist decolonial discourse elucidates the intersection of colonial legacies and patriarchal norms in shaping development paradigms that frequently overlook women’s rights and lived realities. By analysing these interactions through the frameworks of postcolonial feminist thought and gender theory, we may interrogate the concept of “development,” questioning whose interests it genuinely serves.