Turning up the volume on equal pay: Notes toward building a platform for feminist advocacy

Abstract

abstract Feminist advocacy is concerned with ending injustices worldwide by advancing women's rights. In general, feminist advocacy can be seen as a movement to end sexism, racism, and other forms of oppression and achieve full gender equality in law and practice. After several decades of global and regional feminist advocacy by women’s organisations, trade unions, and policy agencies, we must revisit and reframe old questions on the critical gaps that remain. In this briefing, the question for feminist advocacy is why women continue to receive lower pay for the same work as men in South Africa and many other parts of the world, across many sectors of women’s employment and work. While women make up 51% of South Africa’s population, they fill just 44% of skilled posts, according to labour data released in 2017 by Stats SA (Stats SA 2017). According to the 2017 Pulse of the People report, women, on average, earn 27% less than men (Africa Check 2017). Recent data published by the National Treasury in South Africa show that men earn more than women in seven out of eight South African metros, more evidence of the widening pay gap (Evans 2021). The question is, how is feminist advocacy key to addressing the wage gap for black women? Drawing on secondary literature, I review what is in place to address the gender wage gap. I note how feminist advocacy strategies could focus on strengthening existing policies and introduce new strategies to close the gap.