DURBAN - A new study on the gender pay gap in South Africa has revealed that black women are less likely to be employed than other demographics and are paid much less.
The report compiled by Oxfam, a British non-governmental organisation focusing on the alleviation of poverty, indicates that only three out of ten black women have a job, compared with seven out of ten white men.
Titled “Womxn’s Work and Income Inequality in South Africa”, the report paints a vivid picture of the financial inequality against black women in one of the continent’s powerhouses.
“It would take the pay of 461 black women from the bottom 10 percent of earners to make as much as the average (white, male) CEO takes home in a year. It just takes 23 hours for the average CEO to earn what the average worker earns in a year,’ the report said.
It shows that 10 percent of South Africans own 90 percent of the country’s wealth, meaning that the remaining 90 percent of the population only has 10 percent of the wealth.
The report states that inequalities experienced in the labour market are one of the key drivers of wealth and income inequality in South Africa, accounting for around 80-90 percent of the overall inequality.
“The position of black women remains a vivid and important measure of labour market inequality and resulting social inequality in South Africa,” it says.
“We face these inequalities because of a sexist, classist and racist economic system that only serves the elite few.”
Oxfam South Africa’s executive director Siphokazi Mthathi said the report is an important step towards understanding inequality and how to reduce it.
“Insofar as inequality is concerned, have we been able to turn the information that South Africa is one of the world’s most unequal countries into knowledge about what that means and what we should do about it,” Mthathi said.
“While to some extent these issues are inescapable, the first step to any solution is to be aware of the problem.”
African News Agency (ANA)