COVER STORY

TRUDI MAKHAYA, Special Economic Adviser to President Ramaphosa, unpacks the power of women in the South African economy and the challenges and opportunities inherent in changing the status quo

Alice Walker once wrote of women, in this case black women in the post-Reconstruction American South, as “exquisite butterflies trapped in an evil honey, toiling away their lives in an era… that did not acknowledge them, except as ‘the mule of the world’”. Across the globe, women have come a long way since then.

But lately, especially on social media, whenever someone calls for more women in leadership positions, there is a flurry of responses that points out the obvious fact that some women leaders can be deficient in their positions. Women, it seems, have to prove that they are better than men (or that they bring a different perspective) if they are to be given the same opportunities as men.

The implication that men have a birthright to leadership or business acumen lingers. In Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen traces the narrative for women’s rights as it moved from being a call for women’s own wellbeing, to a more extensive recognition of women’s agency as a driver for social change for all of society.

There’s a burgeoning literature on the ‘business case’ for inclusion. Without feeding into some of the stereotypically gendered framing of women’s ‘unique contributions’ attendant to this strain of literature, it is important to shine a light on what we lose when women do not have a seat at the table.

Women’s education and labour force participation rates are important variables in explaining economic growth and development. The PwC Women in Work Index 2021 estimates that the rich OECD countries could add more than US$6-trillion to their combined GDP if they had the same rate of female employment as Sweden.

In South Africa, StatsSA reports that women’s labour force participation rate was 12.4 percentage points lower than that of men in 2001. This figure was barely unchanged by 2017, with a 12.1 percentage point difference in favour of men, but this has narrowed somewhat to a 10-percentage point gap in the first quarter of 2021.

The unemployment rate, on the broad definition, was seven percentage points higher for women in the first quarter of 2021.

According to the World Bank, globally the median gender wage gap is between

■ The PwC Women in Work Index 2021 estimates that the rich OECD countries could add more than US$6-trillion to their combined GDP if they had the same rate of female employment as Sweden. ■ In South Africa, StatsSA reports that women’s labour force participation rate was 12.4 percentage points lower than that of men in 2001. ■ This figure was barely unchanged by 2017, with a 12.1 percentage point difference in favour of men, but this has narrowed somewhat to a 10-percentage point gap in the first quarter of 2021. ■ The unemployment rate, on the broad definition, was seven percentage points higher for women in the first quarter of 2021. ■ According to the World Bank, globally the median gender wage gap is between 23–35% for women and men with the same amount of schooling. ■ The South African Commission for Employment Equity reports that women only made up 25% of top management in 2020. ■ The World Bank finds a large gender gap in STEM education, for example in engineering, men have a graduation rate of 15% compared to 3.9% for women. ■ Government has expressed the objective to direct at least 40% of procurement expenditure to women-owned businesses. ■ According to preliminary figures, by May 2021, of all companies that received payments from government, 31% were women-owned. However, in terms of the Rand value of expenditure, women-owned businesses earned only 12% of procurement spend. ■ Through the SheTradesZA platform, government aims to support at least 2 000 women-owned enterprises to participate in regional value chains. 23–35% for women and men with the same amount of schooling. The South African Commission for Employment Equity reports that women only made up 25% of top management in 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic found two significant transitions underway in economies across the world: the digital and the green transition. The motivation by governments to ‘build back better’ is supportive of these developments and will serve to accelerate them. In both spheres, the digital and the green, women enter with an inheritance of disadvantage. Women bear most of the costs of climate change through their experience of adverse weather events, loss of livelihoods and displacement. Yet the course of investments in the green economy is not driven by the interests of vulnerable communities.

Similar dynamics obtain in the digital sphere, which in Africa, is dominated by multinational platforms and conglomerates. Women are also not positioned to excel in technical fields. The World Bank finds a large gender gap in STEM education, for example in engineering, men have a graduation rate of 15% compared to 3.9% for women.

Yet these transitions also have the power to change women’s lives in unprecedented ways. Digital technology enables women to have reach for their products and ideas. It enables working practises that help women to balance productivity at work with being effective caregivers.

In as much as South Africa played a definitive role in championing the concerns of the global South in the global climate change agenda (such as through the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action that paved the way for the Paris Agreement), our policy orientation should champion gender inclusivity in the just energy transition.

There is no magic bullet when it comes to enabling women’s economic empowerment. The drivers of change are multifaceted, beginning with the changing of social and cultural norms that limit women’s potential. However, the state has a crucial role to play. Here I focus on two elements: procurement and access to fi nance. As we have seen in the swift development of Covid-19 vaccines, having access to an assured market helps companies to take risks and to venture into new areas. The ‘advance market commitments’ given to vaccine manufacturers gave them the confi dence to dedicate time and resources to investigating and developing vaccines for a novel virus. Providing women-owned businesses with offtake agreements gives them the opportunity to prove their products and to achieve economies of scale. Indeed, government has expressed the objective to direct at least 40% of procurement expenditure to women-owned businesses. This has been accompanied by awareness raising and capacity building programmes to support women in seizing this opportunity. According to preliminary fi gures, by May 2021, of all companies that received payments from government, 31% were women-owned. However, in terms of the Rand value of expenditure, women-owned businesses earned only 12% of procurement spend. This suggests the need to ensure that women are able to provide high value-added services. The private sector also needs to exhibit the same level of ambition when it comes to women’s economic empowerment. The fi nancing landscape for women also needs to be consolidated. Though there are initiatives in government and in the private sector to provide women with access to fi nance, this commitment needs to be scaled up signifi cantly. In sustainable development circles, there is increasing appreciation of the need for women to access climate fi nance and sustainable fi nance more broadly. Women already play an important part in cross-border trade on our continent. Through the SheTradesZA platform, government aims to support at least 2 000 women-owned enterprises to participate in regional value chains.

Trudi Makhaya is a writer, economist and entrepreneur. In April 2018, she was appointed as full-time Special Economic Adviser to President Ramaphosa. In this role, she provides analytical support to the President on economic policy. This includes regular input on key issues and initiatives, interfacing with advisory structures and engaging with economic policy stakeholders. Trudi also serves as South Africa’s G20 sherpa.

An active public commentator, Trudi’s columns have appeared in Business Day, Daily Maverick and Acumen. She has also published academic journal articles on competition economics and policy.

The promise of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement also depends on women’s fi nancial inclusion and the role of development fi nance institutions is critical. This year we celebrate Mme Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, as a ‘woman of many fi rsts’. As we do so, we must build an economy that draws on the power of women, so that they are no longer ‘fi rsts’ or ‘the only one’ around the table, but are fully integrated operators in the country’s economic life.