The latest unemployment data released by Statistics South Africa this week showed that women continue to bear the brunt of unemployment and are grossly under-represented in managerial positions.
FNB analysts who broke down the data, found the official unemployment rate for women stood at 35.7% in the second quarter of this year, while male unemployment rate was at 30%.
According to the country’s oldest bank, women’s labour force participation rate has averaged 51.1% since 2008, while the participation rate for men was 64.3%.
The FNB research further shows that the gender disparities of upward mobility of the past persists.
“By occupation, the data shows that women are over-represented in relatively low-quality, low-paying and vulnerable professions such as domestic workers, clerks and some technician occupations,” analysts from FNB said.
This contrasts with women being under-represented in higher quality jobs, such as managerial occupations.
The lender said because 42.2% of households are headed by women, these gender gaps have much broader socioeconomic implications.
“Encouragingly, women have taken steps to uplift themselves academically. Educational enrolment trends by gender show that more women are enrolled in public higher education institutions compared to men.
Additionally, there were more female than male graduates across all qualification types, except for doctorate degrees in 2021.
“This implies that factors limiting more women employment are not supply-driven.”
The observations by the FNB mirror those of a report released by Statistics South Africa earlier this year.
The stats agency’s Labour Market Dynamics report, which provided information on labour market trends for the period 2016-2021, shows that men are more likely to be employed regardless of race.
The report shows that in the years covered, 68% of men were employed in managerial occupations compared with 32% of women and that women were more likely to be employed as domestic workers, clerks and technicians relative to men.
In contrast, men were more likely to work in craft and related trade, machine operator and skilled agriculture occupations.
African Bank this week launched its women enterprise development programme, which it said aims to equip women with essential skills, mentorship and resources necessary to thrive in the workplace and become successful entrepreneurs.
Edna Montse, African Bank chief executive for transformation and sustainability, said: “This was long overdue.
“We believe that empowering women entrepreneurs is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic business decision.
By launching this programme, we are investing in the future of our economy and creating opportunities for women to thrive as successful entrepreneurs, encouraging them that their success is our success as a nation.”
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