Breaking Gender Barriers in Food Retail: Pathways to Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems in Cameroon
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Date
2025
Authors
Ayuk, Justine E.
Kareem, Fatima Olanike
Assoua, Joe E.
Bomdzele, Eric Junior
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AERC
Abstract
In developing countries, the informal food retail sector is strategic for improving access to food, particularly for poor urban individuals and households (Skinner, 2016). Women dominate the informal food retail sector in Africa and constitute the majority of food vendors in open markets in many poor rural and urban communities in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the ILO (2023), close to 90% of African women dominate the non-agricultural informal economy. In Cameroon, 68.3% of women work as independent entrepreneurs in the informal sector, compared to 48.2% of men, according to the Cameroon National Institute of Statistics [NIS] (NIS, 2022). As key players in informal food retail systems, women retailers often have direct relationships with local farmers, markets, and food suppliers, enabling them to source a diverse range of food products. With growing rates of urbanisation (i.e., 57.6% urban population in 2020 compared to 27.3% in 1976) (UN-DESA, 2018), the informal food The retail sector continues to play a critical role in urban and peri-urban food systems, enhancing access to a diversified diet for medium and low-income households in Cameroon.