The Status of Women in the South African Economy

The Department of Women has released The Status of Women in the South African Economy. "This report explores the status of women within the South African economy. Its aim is to detail the current situation, while providing insight into some of the trends that are discernible in the data. In this way, the report is able to identify some of the areas where society broadly has been successful in enabling women’s full participation in the economy, and others where perhaps there is a need for refocused efforts. The report covers five broad themes within this area: education; labour market; access to credit; land and property; poverty and inequality;and unpaid work. This is certainly not an exhaustive list of the facets of women’s economic interactions, but covers what we believe to be some of the key areas from a policy perspective. Education arguably underpins much of women’s full engagement in the economy, as is the case for men, and is therefore central to the achievement of gender equality. It provides access to more remunerative areas of the labour market through improved skill and productivity levels, and may have similar impacts for the self-employed, but it also enables women to engage more meaningfully in society and make better-informed decisions. At a broader level, education is seen as key to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. Furthermore, without investment in education, countries’ ability to harness the demographic dividend is significantly impaired."