I write this article at the time we celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the 1956 Women's March to the Union Building, where 20 000 women from every part of South Africa: cities and towns, the reserves and the villages and women from every race: African, white, Indian, coloured, came united in their purpose and marched to the Union Buildings to deliver a petition to the then-Prime Minister, JG Strijdom, against the carrying of dompasses by women and the degradation of African women. We salute those women stalwarts. We have also ensured their posterity through the launch of the Women's Living Heritage Monument at the Lillian Ngoyi Square. These women were not just fighting against the carrying of the dompasses but also for economic liberation.
Economics is about the power to access resources and the ownership of resources. Further, women's relationship to resources and their ability to secure resources is at the heart of gender inequality. Women and men occupy different places in the economy and society, and perform different roles.
One way to sum up the achievements of the last 22 years of our democracy, is that South Africa has become a better place to live in for all - this is one of the aspirations of the Constitution.
Legalised injustices against women generally and especially those women at the intersection of race and gender, have virtually disappeared, including all laws and formal policies that precluded women from entering any occupation or profession of their choice, owning property or engaging in any business venture. However, the social patterns of exclusions and disadvantages that women experienced in the past remain a systemic feature of the South African social and economic landscape, hence the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequalities impact mostly on women.
Stark difference
Though, de jure women and men are equal, de facto, there is a stark gap between the two, in terms of employment and pay, access to economy, and others. The inequalities also manifest themselves in terms of power imbalances and violence against women. As long as women are still subjected to violence, they are not able to participate freely in the economy. Therefore my department will be holding dialogues in all districts in all provinces in order to discuss causes and solutions with communities.
Social transformation, if it is to result in a real improvement in the quality of life of women, will be attained only if it is underpinned by fundamental economic transformation. The gains of political liberation are unlikely to be felt unless there are considerable changes both in the structure of the South African economy and in its management.
The mandate of my department is: “to promote women's socioeconomic empowerment, development and human rights.”
Radical economic transformation without the full inclusion and empowerment of women is unsustainable or unattainable. The only way to achieve radical socioeconomic empowerment of women is to ensure their inclusion in the economy.
To establish a baseline for monitoring and evaluating progress, I commissioned research on the status of women to. The report: “The Status of Women in the South African Economy” was launched on the 9th of August 2015 by President Jacob Zuma. It focuses on five critical areas: 1) Education - access and attendance, outcomes and performance; 2) Labour market; 3) Access to land property and credit; 4) Changes in poverty and inequality and 5) Unpaid work and contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
It reveals that data on enrolment indicates that females account for an increasing proportion at higher levels of education. As a result, by the time they reach post-secondary education, females outnumber males by a ratio of around three to two. Now even in the previously male domain of STEM, young women are vehemently competing. However this is not true in the industries which continue to exclude young women. The National Development Plan advocates for an education accountability chain between the classroom and real workplace market needs.
A major barrier to economic and workforce integration involves how industries handle the physical and cultural differences between sexes. Women and men are, after all, different in some ways. On the physical side, only women carry and bear offspring. The difference should not result in women being treated as a category of exception, and the perception that they are less capable or less valuable workers that is why they get special treatment. Engendering economic development requires industries to understand that when women thrive, businesses thrive and the economy grows.
The report reveals there is a positive relationship between the levels of education and the labour force participation rate for all population groups and for both males and females. The higher the level of education, the higher the labour force participation rate. This shows the need for educating both males and females in order for a country to be globally competitive. Without investment in education, the country's ability to harness the demographic dividend is significantly impaired.
Focus
The second focus area of the Status report is the labour market, which is certainly the key arena in which most individuals most regularly engage with the economy. Productive employment provides access to resources which have far-reaching consequences in other areas.
Employment gains have accrued to women across the educational distribution, while older women and African women have benefited from above average employment growth rates. Women's employment, though, is more concentrated in a smaller number of sectors than men's, with 84 percent of female employment in the services sector. This concentration may expose women relatively more to downturns within those sectors.
An investigation into access to land, credit and property comprises the third section of the report. The evidence suggests that women within South Africa have relatively equal access to credit in various borrowing contexts, although barriers to business financing remain due to a lack of collateral and lower levels of financial literacy.
Asset inequality in South Africa has declined during the post-apartheid period. Females and female-headed households have, on average, lower access to both private and public assets than males and male-headed households. In terms of public asset access, an area in which the government is a significant roleplayer through its provision of services and housing, gender inequality is lower. The provision of public services or assets is an area of particular success for the government over the past 20 years and has brought enormous benefits to ordinary South Africans.
In the fourth focus area, the report investigates changes in poverty and inequality over the past several years. While poverty has declined since the end of apartheid, women remain more likely to be poorer than males. However, the data suggests that the social grant system makes a significant impact in reducing poverty at both the household and the individual level, with female-headed households considerably more reliant on grant income than male-headed households.
The final focus area focuses on unpaid work and women's contribution to total production. The report reveals that women are responsible for the lion's share of unpaid work, with women bearing a particularly large burden in terms of care work.
Directive
Based on the findings of this report, President Zuma issued a directive to the Chair of the Economic Cluster that all departments within this cluster should incorporate the findings of this report in the implementation of the 9 Point Plan which includes the National Infrastructure Programme and the Ocean Economy. The plan was adopted to respond to South Africa's development and economic challenges.
Education and skills development are essential tools for engendering the economy, to be globally competitive, build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and to improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities.
The department is partnering with the corporate sector and civil society organisations to facilitate programmes that expose young women to the corporate sector in order to encourage them to enter the STEM fields at school and in the industry. For example, the department has partnered with Uweso-Technogirl programme and others stakeholders to implement an initiative which facilitates job shadowing programmes in order to enhance young women's skills in science, technology engineering and maths. Over 9000 girls have participated in job shadowing in the STEM field. Another project is the department's partnership with Cell C on the Take a Girl Child to Work Programme. This project is being reformed to ensure that the one day initiative is translated to sustainable and meaningful exposure for girls.
I call upon all the captains of industries to join us in implementing the Uweso-Technogirl and the Take a Girl Child to work programmes.
Susan Shabangu is Minister of Women in the Presidency. Her opinions do not necessarily reflect those of IOL.
INDEPENDENT WORLD OF WORK