Gender Equality and Social Dialogue in South Africa

Despite the impressive legislative basis, gender-based inequalities still exist in the society and at the workplace. Most women, making up nearly half the labour force, remain in poorly paid jobs, particularly domestic workers. While trade unions and business associations have undertaken some actions to promote gender equality, the top level of social dialogue bodies is male-dominated. In the NEDLAC, three out of the eighteen principals are women, with all the women coming from the community constituency. Trade unions are slightly more likely than employers to choose female representatives. In addition to the analysis of existing South African research, the author conducted a survey among bargaining councils. When some collective agreements are related to gender issues, mainly such as maternity protection, paternity leave and sexual harassment, they are often not going further than the legal requirements. An interesting focus is done in the study on the need to recognise that different categories of women face different challenges.