Justice cannot be optional: Why access to justice for women and girls is the foundation of equality

Africa's rapid economic growth has attracted considerable European investment across sectors ranging from fintech and manufacturing to agribusiness and extractive industries. However, many investors remain blind to a critical systemic risk that undermines market stability, supply chain reliability, and long-term profitability: the persistent gap in women's access to justice. The structural barriers facing African women in accessing legal systems—prohibitive costs, bureaucratic complexity, extended timelines, and institutional indifference—create cascading consequences that directly impact business operations. When women cannot effectively access courts to enforce contracts, protect property rights, or seek remedy for discrimination, entire economic ecosystems become less predictable and less secure. Consider the practical implications for European enterprises. In agricultural supply chains, where women constitute significant portions of smallholder farming and processing workforces across East and West Africa, justice system failures create vulnerability. Women unable to enforce land rights face dispossession, disrupting production relationships. Those unable to pursue wage theft or discrimination claims experience high turnover, reducing operational stability. European agribusiness investors promoting "sustainable sourcing" commitments cannot credibly maintain these claims if their supply chain partners operate in jurisdictions where female workers lack meaningful legal recourse. Similarly, fintech companies expanding across African markets have built business models on financial inclusion, often