Women and the economy: how far have we come?

In this article we describe changes in women's participation in the economy since 1995 in South Africa. In particular, we investigate employment, unemployment and earnings patterns in the post-apartheid decade and we evaluate the progress made towards gender equality. We find that there has been some improvement in the status of women in the economy, notable examples being their increased representation in the high-skilled occupations and among the top income-earners. However, we also show that for the majority of women, opportunities have been limited over this period, and as a result large gender imbalances still exist in the South African economy.