South Africa’s women are less likely to own a business, be employed or promoted in the workplace. This must change according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who has committed to focusing on ensuring the economic inclusion of women in South Africa and the continent as Chair of the African Union.
The struggle for gender equality is firmly rooted in improving the livelihoods of women according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking on the occasion of International Women’s Day on the weekend.
“That is why providing women with the necessary support to enable them to become financially independent is critical, not just because their financial exclusion is central to any country’s development but also because economic marginalisation and economic dependency leaves women vulnerable to exploitation and abuse”
The journey to be travelled is long. According to a Statistics South Africa inequality report covering the years 2002 and 2017, males were consistently better off than females when looking at indicators such as literacy, earnings and access to most basic services.
Ramaphosa has announced that government will be providing R10 billion and partner funding for women-empowered businesses and will designate 1000 locally produced products that must be procured from SMMEs. These plans may assist Mam’ Senna Gwebu who together with scores of older women operates a food gardening co-operative on the outskirts of Alexandra township in Johannesburg.
“ Learning drive gardens, it does work but when its starts it is a problem because other women don’t have an interest because they don’t get money when they start and the issue of capital is a problem for women when starting these cooperatives because funding is so important to women so that they can develop themselves.”
In the video below, President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa’s peace, stability and prosperity rests on the enduring commitment to constitutionally guaranteed rights to equality between men and women:
Younger women trying their hand at the business have also been facing challenges with female-owned businesses receiving less than half a percent of public and private procurement.
President Ramaphosa says government will soon be presenting the Procurement Bill to Parliament which amongst others will propose that 30% of all state procurement be awarded to female-owned businesses.
This however may not solve the challenge that some like Mechanical Engineer and Director of Teshmaniq Trading Tshepo Ramphisa who since 2013 has struggled to get government contracts despite her qualification and skills.
“I think in a way even though there are policies and everything out there about empowering women. There is still the mentality that women belong in the kitchen because you can come there and say I am an engineer this is what I do, I want to do this and you see the powers that be see you have the brain, you’ve done the work and you have the experience but for you to get the actual work it is either you have to go to a hotel with someone they say it out loud like plain blunt, you either have to go there or sometimes give money to get work that is common actually.”
Ramphisa says it will assist if women become senior decision-makers in state institutions and proper monitoring of contracts awarded is done. This may go some way, she believes, in ensuring that the vision of making 2020 to 2030 the decade of African Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion is realised.
