TITLE:
China’s E-Commerce: Prospects and Challenges for Sierra Leone Gender Perspective
AUTHORS:
Alphaeus Koroma
KEYWORDS:
E-Commerce, Gender, Women SMEs, ICT
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.12 No.10,
October
17,
2024
ABSTRACT: This research employs a gender perspective into e-commerce between Sierra Leone and China, by analyzing the prospects and challenges of e-commerce on women owned SMEs. Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is critical to Sierra Leonean women SME’s and career development. Since China and Sierra Leone established diplomatic relations over half a century ago, the trade and commerce has grown stronger and stronger with China been the largest trading partner to Sierra Leone. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of China E‐Commerce Demonstration Country Program, the researcher used a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to collate data of a survey from E-commerce seminar organized by the Free trade department of Zhejiang Province in Hangzhou, China in October 2023. Key findings indicate that E-commerce in China is thriving since the early 2000s and it is expected to triple by 2036. Sierra Leone stands to benefit more from this if the country could invest in women SMEs on e-commerce. Women’s participation in e-commerce between China and Sierra Leone if harnessed could change their gendered roles and the patriarchal norms in the country. The findings further revealed that there are prospects for e-banking, online shopping, e-government, tele-medicines. Some of the challenges identified are social cultural privacy, lack of education and awareness among women, the language barrier, the exchange rate of the Leone to the US dollar then to the Chinese Yuan and the weak ICT infrastructure in Sierra Leone are some of the challenges women face. Women in SMEs E-commerce are facing these challenges because of gender stereotypes and the patriarchal nature of the Sierra Leonean society in particular.