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Women in SA face discrimination
The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) says South African women are still facing discrimination and cannot find jobs easily. Fedusa general secretary Dennis George says "It is still evident that in South Africa, women face multiple forms of discrimination in both policy and practice on a daily basis”. He says "Young women find it particularly hard to enter the labour market as employers tend to favour young men". The gender pay gap remained a reality, even though the country had the most advanced legislation on non-discriminatory matters. "Women still earn 12 to 60 percent less than their male co-workers,even in occupations such as nursing and teaching." George says women accounted for an increasing proportion (60 percent) of the world's poor and working poor. women lacked maternity protection rights and faced violence and sexual harassment at or near their workplace. Fedusa says "they call on all stakeholders, including government to embark on specific actions to achieve decent work and life for women, as well as to build awareness of decent work and show that it is fundamental to democracy and social cohesion". This could be achieved by focusing activities on areas of work where women workers were most vulnerable such as export processing zones, domestic work, part-time workers, women migrant workers and women in the informal economy.
"In South Africa, women in the informal sector especially in agriculture, remain outside the world of full-time, stable and protected jobs in what is known as the informal economy." MRN-SAPA |
