An exploratory study of female labour force participation in South Africa: 1995 - 2010
- Authors: Mahali, Lesala
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Labor markets -- South Africa , Unemployment -- South Africa , Labor supply -- South Africa , Women -- Employment -- South Africa , Role conflict , Women employees -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Com
- Identifier: vital:11465 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1007050 , Labor markets -- South Africa , Unemployment -- South Africa , Labor supply -- South Africa , Women -- Employment -- South Africa , Role conflict , Women employees -- South Africa
- Description: The role that women play in the economy of any society is a desirable goal for equity and efficiency considerations. Just as with the rest of the world, the South African women lagged behind their male counterparts within the economic empowerment space and in the formal labour force. However, the role of women has undergone some transformations with issues relating to employment opportunities, such that their labour force participation has risen considerably since 1994. The female labour force participation rate is still seen to be persistently lower compared to the male participation rate even in the second decade of democracy. The rate of women labour force participation is even lower than the average. On the other hand, the increases have also been coupled with the rising rate of unemployment among women. The objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of female labour force participation in the South African labour market. The study uses a regression analysis on a cross sectional panel data covering a period of 1995 to 2010. Unlike most popular beliefs, the findings of this study reveal that fertility though not statistically significant, positively influences labour force participation of women. Other variables that are statistically significant in explaining female labour force are HIV/AIDS, marital status, age, household income and education. Race was found to be insignificant in explaining female labour force participation in the South African labour force.
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- Date Issued: 2013
Feminisation a period of labour market changes in South Africa
- Authors: Lee, Deborah Ellen
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Women -- Employment -- South Africa , Discrimination in employment -- South Africa , Wages -- Women -- South Africa , Labor supply -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:11008 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/363 , Women -- Employment -- South Africa , Discrimination in employment -- South Africa , Wages -- Women -- South Africa , Labor supply -- South Africa
- Description: The post-1994 role of women in the South African economy is changing with respect to issues such as education and employment opportunities. In the past, men tended to hold the primary or ‘good’ jobs, which have the greatest stability and promotional potential, whilst women tended to hold the secondary or ‘poor’ jobs, which have lower stability and lower wages (Kelly, 1991). Women’s labour force participation has risen significantly over the years since 1994, but more in depth research is needed in order to determine where and how changes could be implemented to ensure that any past gender inequalities fall away with minimal impact on the economy as a whole. As such, certain dynamics within the labour market need to be considered. Firstly, pre-market types of discrimination, including issues such as gender discrimination during the acquisition of human capital through educational attainment should be considered. In most countries, women enter the labour market with severe disadvantage in that they have been subject to discrimination in schooling opportunities (Standing, Sender & Weeks, 1996). Secondly, the feminisation of the labour force is dealt with, as well as what factors affect the female labour force participation decision (i.e. the decision of whether to participate in the labour market or not). iv Thirdly, employment discrimination is investigated, including the concept of ‘occupational crowding’. An analysis of trends in the occupational structure of economically active women in South Africa shows the typical shift out of agriculture into industrial related jobs (Verhoef, 1996). Lastly, wage discrimination is analysed, in order to determine if women get lower rates of pay for ‘equal work’. The objectives of this study are aimed at determining whether there have been any positive changes with respect to women in any of these focal areas mentioned above. There are studies that have established gender differentials when it comes to formal education, and these place women at the disadvantaged end (Bankole & Eboiyehi, 2000). If one considers the educational measures, namely, the levels of literacy, years of education, and overall educational attainment, employed by this country to determine whether there are in fact observed differences between the education of boys and girls, the following was found: Males rate higher with respect to two of these measures, namely literacy and educational attainment, and are thus able to exhibit lower levels of poverty than females in South Africa. Men exhibit slightly higher literacy rates than women of the same age (Statistics South Africa, 2002), and men also rate higher than women when it comes to university education. With regards to primary and secondary school attainment v since 1994, the gender gap does appear to have disappeared. The ‘neoclassical model of labour-leisure choice’, as applied in this study, shows that as the wage rate increases, women have an incentive to reduce the time they allocate to the household sector and are more likely to enter the labour market. In South Africa, however, the increase in the female participation rate has merely translated into a rise in unemployment and has not been associated with an increase in the demand for female labour. This implies that South African women are being ‘pushed’ into the labour market due to economic need, rather than being ‘pulled’ into the labour market in order to earn a higher wage. Women are gradually becoming better represented at all levels across a wide range of occupations. Women, however, continue to face greater prospects of unemployment and to earn less than their male counterparts even when they do find employment. These lower female wages are partly as a result of ‘occupational crowding’, whereby women are over-represented in certain occupations resulting in excess labour supply which drives down the wage rate. It has been determined that the problem of occupational crowding is a real and immediate one and has been found to depress wages within certain female specific occupations.
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- Date Issued: 2005