Paper short abstract:

Market systems programming facilitates demand and supply of goods and services. However, women face patriarchal socio-economic constraints and are economically more vulnerable as consumers.Target-driven programmes risk exacerbating such vulnerability, making a feminist and ethical lens critical.

Paper long abstract:

Market systems interventions (also known as M4P) facilitate the demand and supply of goods and services, bringing commercialisation as "market linkage" to Africa's poorest. But whether an agricultural input, a mosquito net, or a financial product such as micro-credit, poor "beneficiaries" still need a degree of purchasing power, either immediately and upfront (e.g. a bag of fertiliser) or over time (e.g. loan repayments with interest). And with private sector stimulation at the heart of a successful market systems programme, a market linkage is essentially expenditure on the part of a (poor) man or woman "reached" by a private sector programme client.

However, women face greater social and economic constraints on their access to resources and economic opportunities compared to men. This inequality often unjustly limits women's returns for their productive capacities and makes them economically vulnerable, particularly among the poorest. That vulnerability extends to their role as consumers within markets. With many women engaged in horizontal, cash-based, survivalist enterprises, they are often less resilient to economic shocks. Target-driven market programmes that ignore/over-simplify gendered power relationships run the risk of exacerbating such vulnerability, creating an ethical predicament where "do no harm" principles are concerned. As these programmes seek to move into more volatile humanitarian environments such as early post-conflict, this concern becomes greater.

Drawing on existing research and technical assistance experience from northern Nigeria and framed within feminist power analysis, this paper will unpack and critique ethical concerns within market systems programming in relation to women's rights, empowerment, and justice outcomes in Africa.