“We have to make sure no woman feels powerless again.” These were words spoken by Saybah Fomba, 32, as she remembers her journey to Sierra Leone from Liberia. Eighteen years later, Fomba no longer trembles at border posts. Instead, she leads the Montserrado County Chapter of the Association of Women in Cross-Border Trade (AWICBT).
The AWICBT was founded in May 2010 after a baseline study by UN Women Liberia in November 2007. This was around the same time when Fomba at the Bowaterside border she was stopped by two male officers who demanded to search her. Before she could consent, their hands were inside her blouse and trousers, rifling through her bag.
“They knew Liberians travel with U.S. dollars, that’s why they searched,” she recalls. What they didn’t know was that Saybah had hidden her money under her bra. The cash was safe. Her dignity, less so.
That research, the first of its kind, documented women’s experiences at border sites and markets across the country: Foya/Kondou (Liberia–Sierra Leone border, Lofa County), Ganta/Beala (Liberia–Guinea border, Nimba County), Bo-Waterside/Jendema (Liberia–Sierra Leone border, Grand Cape Mount County), Kuwait and Red-Light markets (Montserrado County)
The methodology was wide-ranging: 450 respondents surveyed (240 women & 150 men from Liberia, plus 30 women & 30 men from Guinea & Sierra Leone). Seventy participants in focus groups at each border. Direct observation and interviews with Immigration, Customs, Police, the Liberian Marketing Association, and transporters. The findings were stark: Sexual harassment was the most commonly named form of violence. 9% of women reported rape. 5% said they had been asked for sex in exchange for favors.
Women as the Economic Backbone
Women are not marginal actors in trade; they are its foundation. Across Liberia, they make up 65% of cross-border traders, carrying food, textiles, and consumer goods that keep households supplied and local economies alive.
In fact, their contributions extend far beyond markets. They provide food security by transporting staples across borders. They sustain household income in the absence of male breadwinners. They contribute directly to the national GDP by paying taxes and market fees.
“Women traders are not just victims,” says Ramon Garway, UN Women Liberia’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Manager. “They are connectors, innovators, and providers. Recognizing them is the key to unlocking economic growth.”
Signs of Progress
Since AWICBT’s formation in 2010, women have organized chapters in all 15 counties in Liberia. They conduct literacy classes, teach business development, and mentor young traders.
National and international partners are beginning to respond. The World Bank-funded Liberia Investment, Finance, and Trade (LIFT) Project is addressing extortion, improving access to finance, and providing training in financial management and trade regulations. The Ministry of Commerce has been engaged with women traders, educating them about their rights at various border points and through education campaigns.
Transport associations are under growing pressure to improve safety and reduce exploitative costs. Even drivers, often accused of charging exorbitant fares, acknowledge systemic problems. “The roads destroy our cars,” says Joel Dennis, a taxi driver who regularly travels from Monrovia to Lofa County. “But if the roads improve, fares will too.”
Culture, Courage, and Continuity
For many women, trade is not a choice but a lifeline: widows, single mothers, and those excluded from formal employment turn to markets. The sector is accessible, requiring less capital than other businesses, but demanding courage.
The risks are real: broken roads, unsafe nights, and harassment. But so too is the hope. Women traders speak of solidarity, of building networks across villages and borders, of providing for children and keeping communities supplied.
“We are the ones who keep food moving,” Fomba says. “And now, we are also the ones who are making the rules.”
By the Numbers: Women in Cross-Border Trade
Sixty-five percent of cross-border traders are women (Liberia–Sierra Leone border). The women surveyed in the baseline report continue to be at the forefront of the trade. The challenges encountered do not deter them. Instead, they navigate their ways as a means of gaining employment, taking care of their families, and contributing to food security. From border points, sideways, and market stalls, cross-border traders continue to increase in their numbers.
Martha Jackson, 42, sells gari and fish between Monrovia and Freetown. Harassment once slowed her at checkpoints. Now, through AWICBT’s networks, she uses legal training and awareness to push back. “We know our rights now,” she says.
Pauline Saywah, 32, sells plantains in Omega Market after three-day journeys from Nimba County. She describes riding motorbikes for hours, sleeping by roadsides when cars break down. Yet her stall bustles, a testament to endurance.
Saybah Kollie, 31, leaves her children for weekly night trips to Lofa County. The emotional toll is heavy, but she now travels in organized groups for safety. “It’s still hard,” she says, “but we are stronger together.”
Rights on Paper, Change in Practice
Liberia’s Constitution guarantees safe working conditions. Internationally, Liberia is bound by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women (CEDAW). Both affirm women’s right to trade without fear.
But enforcement remains uneven. Saye Domahson, of the Ministry of Commerce’s Division of Foreign Trade, acknowledges, “Complaints of harassment come to us. We are educating women on trade rules, rights, and protections. It is a long process, but change is happening.”
Signs of Progress
Since AWICBT’s formation in 2010, women have organized chapters in all 15 counties. They conduct literacy classes, teach business development, and mentor young traders.
National and international partners are beginning to respond. The World Bank-funded Liberia Investment, Finance, and Trade (LIFT) Project is addressing extortion, improving access to finance, and providing training in financial management and trade regulations. The Ministry of Commerce runs education campaigns at border crossings. Transport associations are under growing pressure to improve safety and reduce exploitative costs. Even drivers, often accused of charging exorbitant fares, acknowledge systemic problems.
Culture, Courage, and Continuity
For many women, trade is not a choice but a lifeline: widows, single mothers, and those excluded from formal employment turn to markets. The sector is accessible, requiring less capital than other businesses, but demanding courage.
The risks are real: broken roads, unsafe nights, and harassment. But so too is the hope. Women traders speak of solidarity, of building networks across villages and borders, of providing for children and keeping communities supplied.
“We are the ones who keep food moving,” Fomba says. “And now, we are also the ones who are making the rules.”
A Brighter Horizon
The road ahead is long and sometimes muddy. But women are no longer walking it alone. They are walking it in groups, with knowledge, with institutions listening, and with international projects backing their cause.
From plantain sellers in Omega Market to gari traders crossing to Freetown, Liberia’s women traders are not waiting for systems to change; they are changing the system themselves.
As Ramon Garway puts it, “When you empower women traders, you empower entire communities. And when you protect them, you protect the economy itself.”
The women at Liberia’s borders are not only crossing checkpoints. They are crossing barriers of silence, exclusion, and fear, carrying families, feeding nations, and building a fairer economy for West Africa.
