Abstract:
South African women account for more than half of the national population.
Promotion of gender equality, advancing human rights, and socio-economic
empowerment of women has remained one of the national priority areas, not only
for South Africa but the world over. The participation of women in main stream
economic activities is important to the socio-economic development of South
Africa. They possess unique skills and talents which can be utilised in the labour
market to provide families with more economic independence (World Bank, 2009).
They ensure a basis for sustainable sources and control of income to the benefit
of children or households (UNWOMEN, 2015). More participation of women in
the mainstream economy will reduce poverty and unemployment. Productive
employment provides access to resources via wages (DW, 2015). An increase in the
number of working women in the economy means production capacity will increase,
which will lead to an increase in economic growth, and reduction of poverty and
unemployment (World Bank, 2009). Thus, an environment that enables women to
effectively engage in the labour market is essential to address some of the various
economic inequalities that exist between the genders.
