Gender and the economy in post-apartheid South Africa: Changes and challenges

Since the transition to democracy, South Africa has made formal commitments to reducing gender inequality. The period has also witnessed a dramatic increase in both the quality and availability of national quantitative data, widening the scope to assess how gender differences in economic participation have been changing. Here we trace these developments, together with the emergence internationally of feminist economics as an established field of study and the growth nationally of a research agenda on gender and the economy. We describe positive changes in access to education, the nature of women’s labour force participation, average earnings, and the protection and organisation of the most marginal workers, where women (and African women in particular) dominate; but we also highlight some of the challenges that remain. These positive changes and persistent challenges are further explored in the collection of papers published in this special issue of Agenda.