Not only is it psychologically unbearable, physically painful and spiritually repulsive, but poverty is a social malignancy, all in its own class. Nobody wants it, nobody likes it, everybody despises it. Many are the social ills of a country, but fewer are as attributed to poverty, as perhaps crime is. This makes me think, that while women are consistently at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy, yet, it is women who are placed right up the top, with the task of raising responsible social citizens. That is, those who will not end up in prison, in most cases. An Oxfam report, conducted in November 2020, confirms that black women, in South Africa, are at the bottom of the earning spectrum, despite the education or class bracket within which they are measured.
Women deserve a decent living wage, not only because they bring forth children, but because it has been proven, that women are the more enterprising gender. According to stats SÁ, Women accounted for 43,8% of total employment in the second quarter of 2018. … Informal sector employment is mainly concentrated in Trade. There are more women than men employed in the informal sector Trade (47,6% of women compared to 30,6% of men).
Women deserve access to funding and finance. Worldwide, women’s access to finance is disproportionately low. Credit rationing through high interest rates disproportionately discourages women entrepreneurs from applying for loans, while lack of collateral can mean they have less access to loans than their male counterparts (Morsy and Youssef 2017)
Data and research prove that there is a significant gender gap in venture capital funding. Even though women are underrepresented as entrepreneurs to begin with, they receive a disproportionately small share of VC funding: 2.3% for all-female founding teams and 10%.
Advancing women’s financial inclusion is linked to eliminating poverty, reducing hunger and food security, achieving good health and well-being, fostering quality education, and promoting gender equality. Greater financial inclusion also has indirect impact on promoting shared economic growth, innovation and sustainable industrialisation, and equitable and peaceful societies and. The impact that women’s financial inclusion can have on the economy, proves that advancing these goals is not just up to the development community. Private sector and governments of emerging economies must take action.
Nontobeko Mdhluli has been partnering with corporate and SOE organisations since 2004, in the fight against the economic advancement of women. Her work includes Executive search, Leadership intervention strategies as well as Diversity and Inclusion with an emphasis on gender empowerment. www.zanatigroup.co.za
