Gender and Work in South Africa

Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of women’s participation in the post-apartheid South African economy. It documents rising labour-force participation among women, as well as an increase in the share of total and high-skilled employment held by women. However, it also highlights some of the persistent challenges, among them that women’s labour-force participation, access to (high-skilled) employment, and earnings remain well below men’s using the most recent labour force data available. A key constraint to women’s success in the labour market is the additional responsibility they face in the home. The chapter uses data from various sources to show that women retain primary responsibility for the household and the provision of care in South Africa. Finally, attention is drawn to how the Covid-19 crisis has not only exposed the value of this unpaid labour to society, but also the difficulty of performing this work alongside the demands of paid work.