This article summarizes credible, mostly locally generated data, which demonstrates that South Africa is well on its way to achieving gender equality and is, in many aspects, a leader on the continent and the globe. The data suggests that development partners who wish to support the achievement of absolute parity should focus on women’s increased participation at local government level and in the economy (particularly in the private sector).
South Africa (SA) closed more than 70% of the overall gender gap. In the 2023 Global Gender Gap rankings, the country ranked 20th out of 146 countries with a score of 0.787, ahead of Canada at 30 and the United States at 43. Along with Bolivia and El Salvador, SA registered the largest improvements in scores (5 percentage points or more) and is the 3rd most gender equal country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The African Development Bank’s 2015 Gender Equality Index gave SA a score of 75%, thereby rating it the most gender equitable country on the continent.
Statistics South Africa reports that 31 million (51,1%) of the 60,6 million people in SA are female, and that 7,6 million (42,1%) of households are headed by females. Males and females in SA have equal legal rights, as well as equal rights in reproductive outcomes, freedom of movement, access to financial services, and access to justice. South Africans also have near equal rights to inheritance, access to land assets, and access to non-land assets.
The Constitution Act 108 of 1996 prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth. A plethora of laws and policies (60+ germane to all social, economic, political and cultural sectors) have been enacted and implemented to actualize these constitutional rights. Consequently, the country has achieved gender parity (or near parity) in most key areas and is well on its way to reaching parity in others (e.g., the economy).
South African women have high levels of representation and participation in political power structures. South Africa ranks 13th in the world, ahead of Canada at 33 and the US at 63.
At national government level, South Africa has essentially achieved parity. In 2021/22, 46% of Members of Parliament were women (which makes South Africa the 9th ranking country) and 50% of Ministers were women. Women’s representation in the National Assembly has increased consistently from 22% in 2004 to 45% in 2019. The six largest political parties have improved women’s representation over time, while the ruling party achieved gender parity a decade ago.
At provincial and local government level 45% of the provincial legislature are women, but only 2 of the 7 premiers are women. Similarly, only 3 out of 8 mayors are women. At local government level, only 37% of councilors were women in 2021.
In 2019, women comprised 55% of the voters’ role. Female voter turnout is consistently higher than male turnout, with 58,4% female voter turnout in 2021 compared to 41,6% male turnout. Across two elections, there is evidence of a decrease in male participation from 42,7% to 41,6%, while there is an increase in female participation from 57,3% to 58,4%. As the majority of voters, women have the power to elect leaders and policies that best represent their interests.
Women also hold key leadership positions and are well represented in the judiciary and the criminal justice system. Examples include the female Head of the National Prosecuting Authority; the fact that the Director Generals in the Presidency and State Security Agency are women; the Deputy National Commissioner of the South African Police Service is a woman and so is the Deputy Chief Justice; the last three Public Protectors were women; 114 of 256 judges on the bench are women; and 50% of magistrates are women.
South Africa has achieved gender parity in all levels of education. South Africa’s score for education is 0,998 (where 1 is complete parity). This parity holds for all educational levels with a score of 0,989 for literacy; and 1 for primary education, and secondary and tertiary enrollment.
Historically, more women have enrolled in tertiary education than men, accounting for 54% of the total headcount enrolment in 2001, 55% in 2005 and 58% in 2011. Women comprised 42.3% of the doctoral graduates in 2016. This shows rapid improvement, and that gender parity is within reach.
There have also been advances in fields that have traditionally not been chosen by women and girls and at present 42,75% of STEM graduates are women; 56,35% of natural sciences, mathematics and statistics graduates are women; and so are 52,22% of agriculture, fisheries, forestry and veterinary sciences graduates. Women also dominate in arts and humanities (61,96%); business, administration and law (57,28%); and social sciences, journalism and information (68,3%). Women and girls are still less interested in engineering, manufacturing and construction (32,24% of graduates); and ICT (38,43%).
An analysis of economic data shows that although males continue to participate in the labor market at a higher rate (63,2% in 2022) than their female counterparts (50,7%), there is (over the preceding five years) a steady increase in women’s share in the working-age population and that in absolute numbers, there are more females in the workforce than males.
There is a positive relationship between educational attainment and the labor force participation rate for all population groups and sexes. Further, labor force participation rates are higher for males and females who do not have children in the household, and equally low for males and females who have five or more children in the household, with 39,6% and 38,2% respectively. It therefore stands to reason that promoting women’s education and access to family planning services could be effective methods towards achieving parity in labor force participation.
Analysis of the median earnings of females as a percentage of the median earning for males, in 2020, shows that female’s median earnings were 77,8% of males’ earnings.
In 2022, men were still more likely to be employed (42,4%) than women were (32,2%). However, there is gender parity in employment rates for those with tertiary education, suggesting that investing in women’s education is key to achieving economic gender parity. In 2022, male and female graduates had the highest employment rates (73,6%).
Females are still slightly more likely (36,4%) to be unemployed than men are (33%). The unemployment rate increased for everyone over the preceding five years, but in absolute numbers more so for men at 983 000, than women at 679 000.
South Africa is rapidly moving towards employment and power parity in the public sector, where 62% of employees are women and 46% of management positions are now held by women. The respective figures for senior and middle management are 43,8% females and 56,2% males. Furthermore, young women are more likely to be promoted to management positions than young men are. In 2021, 6,5% of males younger than 35 and 9,6% of females younger than 35 held management positions.
South Africa is also progressing towards gender parity in the private sector. In 2021, females accounted for 43,8% of those in senior management positions, and 46% of those in middle management positions in the private sector. However, in 2022, 68,8% of top management in the private sector was male, compared to 31,2% female.
Women are also making gains in business ownership. 21,3% of women own businesses in the formal sector, compared to 28% of men. The respective figure for the informal sector is 77,5% and 69,5%. The most cited reasons for starting an informal business are being unemployed or being unhappy with previous employment. This was equally true for men and women.
There is near parity in the types and sizes of businesses owned. In 2022, of those who had their own businesses, 76,9% of females and 77% of males were sole proprietors; 15,2 % of both females and males employed between 1 and 4 people; 6.9% of females and 5.1% of males employed 5 – 19 employees; and 0,9% of females and 2,8% of males employed 20 or more people. According to the Small Enterprise Development Agency, 72% of micro-enterprises and 40% of small enterprises are female owned, in part because the government and the private sector have put various targeted funds and support mechanisms in place to support female business owners.
South Africa is approaching gender parity in dwelling ownership, with 53,5% of men and 46,5% of women owning their dwellings. In 2021, 54,1% of males vs. 46% of females owned formal dwellings; while 56,1% of males and 43,9% of females owned informal dwellings; and 60,3% of females compared to 39,7% of males owned traditional dwellings.
Data from 2015 (now outdated and questionable) show that women and men are equally likely to be living below the upper bound poverty line: 53,7% of males and 57,2 % of females. Approximately half of South Africans go hungry, with male-headed households (53,5%) more likely to report having skipped a meal that female-headed households (46,5%) were.
Most South Africans have attitudes supportive of gender equality. In 2021, 93,1% of males and 93,6% of females agreed that women should participate in elections. Further, 90,3% of males and 91,2% of females agreed that women should be independent. More than half of South Africans believed that women should earn more than men (53,6% of males and 57,2% of females). Finally, 96,4% of South Africans believed that violence against women is always wrong.
South Africa has also reached gender parity in terms of the adoption of, and access to, technology. Statistics South Africa reports that in 2019/20, 51,7% of females had used a cellphone in the last three months compared to 48,3% of men. Further, 87,1% of males and 86,4% of females in urban areas had used computers in the last three months, indicating gender parity in access. The same gender parity is evident in rural areas, where 12.9% of males and 13,6% of females had used a computer in the last three months.
These are commendable achievements that should be considered when development interventions are designed. Failure to do so could lead to wasteful expenditure and misdirected efforts.
