Issued by Daniela Ellerbeck on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation on 09/08/2024

Introduction:

South Africa has more women than men, with women making up approximately 51% of the population. South Africa showed a slight reduction in gender disparity in 2023, with a gender gap index score of 0,79 (the closer to 0 the score is the greater the gender inequality and the closer to 1 the more parity exists).

However, South African society still sees women under-represented in decision-making roles: The Foundation’s Human Rights Report Card shows that, at least during 2022, men still made up 67% of those in management positions. Moreover, of 806 000 employers nearly 650 000 are men. There is no reason to believe that these statistics, which underscore persistent gender imbalances in the economy, would have changed drastically since 2022.

South Africa needs to remove any barriers to entry into the economy that women face to address the issue of women being underrepresented in leadership and decision-making positions. This means addressing areas such as education, health and economic access: South Africa achieved gender parity in education in 2022. Health and survival scored 0,98 (very close to 1) in 2023 and currently, women’s life expectancy sits at 69,2 years, while males are only at 63,6 years.

However, when it comes to economic access, women globally often face rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment when trying to pursue economic opportunities – e.g. employment, funding for businesses and government procurement opportunities.

Safety is king:

Thus, it appears that safety, when attempting to access the economy, is the main barrier to entry. Crime statistics show that women continue to bear the brunt of violent crimes, with murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (“assault GBH”) and rape against women all increasing. This comes as no surprise, as South Africa’s battle against Gender-based Violence (“GBV”) is well known.

Thus, achieving a safe country for women is imperative if South Africa wants to achieve economic parity. As with many things, it is not for lack of laws that this problem persists: Legislative efforts to combat GBV include the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 that enhances domestic abuse victims’ protections and which came into effect on 14 April 2023. It also includes the GBV and Femicide Bill, which aims to establish a 13-member council, with civil society participation, to manage approaches to GBV and femicide. The Bill lapsed at the dissolution of the previous parliament and remains to be tabled again. Rather, the problem is the effective enforcement of these laws, at all times, everywhere, in the Republic: Between October 2022 and March 2023, 77 GBV-related cases were struck off the court roll in the Western Cape Province due to police inefficiencies. Thus, one can have all the laws one can imagine on the books, but if they are not effectively implemented, they will not solve the problem.

The Importance of Women’s Day, Women’s Month

In South Africa, Women’s Month is celebrated in August as Women’s Day, on 9 August, is an annual public holiday. The day (and month) are meaningful to South Africans, because it recognises and honours the vital role women played during our struggle for democracy. It is also a chance to promote gender equality and raise awareness about the challenges women still face in a society where they struggle to experience something as basic as safety.

What can we do?

Until South Africa succeeds in making it safe for women when they are trying to participate in the economy, the problem of gender inequality in the economy will persist. As per the above, the problem is not for lack of laws, but rather their ineffective and piecemeal implementation.

Making South Africa safe will require a broad sector approach:

First, more trained police officers and prosecutors are crucial and non-negotiable. No cases should have to be struck off the court roll due to police incompetence. Ever.

Secondly, civil society projects are necessary: No Means No Worldwide, for example, has shown great results in Kenya with its project that focuses on boys and girls. (No Means No Worldwide started a project in South Africa in 2020.) It would be wonderful to have initiatives, like this, take off nationally in every school.