TOWARDS AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR …

1 TOWARDS AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR women economic empowerment IN SOUTH AFRICA A STATUS QUO REPORT 31 May 2011 Department of Trade and Industry, November Number: document contains confidential and proprietary information. The dissemination, copying, disclo-sure, use of or taking of any action in reliance on the contents thereof, without the written consent of the dti, is strictly prohibited. the dti Campus77 Meintjies StreetSunnysidePretoria0002the dtiPrivate Bag X84 Pretoria0001the dti Customer Contact Centre: 0861 843 384the dti Website: of Gender and women s economic empowerment ii Acknowledgements At the outset it is our duty as the Gender and women s empowerment Unit (GWE) to acknowledge the Deputy Minister Ms Elizabeth Thabethe. The Blueprint Group (Pty) Ltd gratefully acknowledges the support of the GWE of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti).

2 Particularly, we wish to thank Ms Bongi Ludidi, Ms Nompumelelo Maisela and Ms Lindiwe Tsongayinwe. In addition, thanks are due to Ms Grania Mackie and Ms Carmen Armstrong from the women s Enterprise Development Programmes of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) based in Pretoria. Blueprint also wishes to thank all the provincial gender focal points that assisted in the organisation of provincial focus group discussions. Special thanks are due to all the focus group and workshop participants who gave up their time to contribute to the findings and recommendations of this project. These people are listed in Annexure 2. Analysis of Gender and women s economic empowerment iii Table of Contents ii List of Figures .. v Acronyms Used .. vi Section 1: Executive Summary and Background .. 7 1 Executive 8 2 Background and 15 3 Scope, Methodology and Limitations.

3 17 Section 2: Research Findings .. 21 4 Policy ENVIRONMENT : Context of Gender and women s empowerment .. 22 International Context .. 22 African Context .. 25 South African Context .. 26 5 women in the South African Economy and Enterprise Sector .. 30 women in the Economy .. 30 women in the SMME 39 6 Key Research Themes .. 43 Ensuring Policy Leadership and Coordination for women s economic empowerment through Enterprise Development .. 43 Creating an ENABLING Business ENVIRONMENT for women s economic empowerment through Enterprise Development .. 45 Promoting women s Entrepreneurship .. 46 Delivering Enterprise Education and Training for women s economic empowerment through Enterprise Development .. 47 Promoting Access to Credit and Financial Services .. 47 Enhancing Access to Business Development and Information Services.

4 48 Improving women s Participation in women Entrepreneurs Associations and Networks .. 49 Ensuring women s Access to Business Premises .. 50 Opening women s Access to National and Global Markets .. 50 Promoting Science and Technology for women s economic empowerment through Enterprise Development .. 51 Promoting women s empowerment and Enterprise Development through Social Entrepreneurship and Cooperatives .. 52 Section 3: Recommendations .. 54 Analysis of Gender and women s economic empowerment iv 7 Monitoring, Evaluating and Financing the Gender Mainstreaming and women s economic empowerment .. 55 Purpose of a Monitoring and Evaluation System .. 55 Designing a Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy .. 56 Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation 58 Future Research Demands .. 61 Financing women s economic empowerment through Enterprise Development.

5 62 8 Conclusions and Recommendations .. 66 General Approaches and Recommendations .. 66 Defining women s economic empowerment .. 66 Balancing Gender Mainstreaming with women -Specific Programming .. 67 Targeting women for economic empowerment through Enterprise Development .. 68 Recommendations for the Promotion of women s Enterprise Development .. 69 Access to Financial and Business Development Services .. 69 Broader Development and empowerment Strategies .. 71 Recommendations for the Promotion of Gender Equality .. 72 Micro-level Interventions for Gender Equality and women s economic empowerment .. 72 Meso-level Interventions for Gender Equality and women s economic empowerment .. 73 Macro-level Interventions for Gender Equality and women s economic empowerment .. 73 Recommendations for Improving Leadership and Coordination for women s economic empowerment .

6 75 Business Leadership and 75 Mechanisms for Promoting Gender Equality and women s economic empowerment .. 75 Section 4: Annexures .. 77 List of References .. 78 Consultations Cited .. 78 Documents Cited .. 78 People Consulted .. 81 Workshop Questionnaire (25 March 2011) .. 90 Workshop Questionnaire (13 May 2011) .. 92 Analysis of Gender and women s economic empowerment v List of figures Figure 1: National and Provincial Focus Group 17 Figure 2: Number of Participants by Sector and Province .. 18 Figure 3: Column Chart of Participation Based on Sector and 18 Figure 4: Overall Participation by Sector .. 19 Figure 5: Participation by Province, Race and 19 Figure 6: Key Labour Market Indicators .. 31 Figure 7: Weighting of Employment by Sector in the South African Economy .. 32 Figure 8: Employment by Occupation in the South African Economy.

7 32 Figure 9: Unemployment by Sex .. 33 Figure 10: Earnings by Sex: South African Employees .. 33 Figure 11: women -to-Men Earnings Ratio, Adjusted by Population 34 Figure 12: Contribution to Value Added by Sector .. 36 Figure 13: Contribution of SMEs to GDP .. 38 Figure 14: SMME contribution by Sector (2006) .. 38 Figure 15: Small Enterprises in South Africa Growth 2000-2006 .. 40 Analysis of Gender and women s economic empowerment vi Acronyms Used AsgiSA Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa BBBEE Broad-Based Black economic empowerment BDS Business development services Cipro FABCOS Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services FDI Foreign direct investment FET Further Education and Training GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution: A Macro- economic Strategy GDP Gross Domestic Product GMS GWE Gender management system Gender women s and empowerment Unit HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome HR IDC Human resources Industrial Development Corporation IFC International Finance Corporation ILO International Labour Organisation IPAP M&E Industrial Policy Action Plan Monitoring and evaluation NYDA National Youth Development Agency PDS RECs SADC Private sector development Regional economic communities Southern African Development Community SAWEN South African women Entrepreneurs Network SEDA Small Enterprise Development Agency SME Small and medium enterprise SMMEs Small.

8 Medium and micro-enterprises the dti The Department of Trade and Industry WEF women Entrepreneurs Fund WEDGE women 's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (ILO) Analysis of Gender and women s economic EmpowermentI am proud to say that the 2006 Draft Strategic Framework on Gender and women empowerment of the Department of Trade & Industry has taken us through a phase of identi fying the major obstacles aff ecti ng women in starti ng, growing and sustaining their businesses as well as barriers to entering the economy. Recognizing such challenges as access to resources, appropriate technology, skills and credit led to the introducti on of a wide range of specifi c interventi ons. Furthermore, our commitment to play a leading role in the transformati on of our economy now demands that we take stock and highlight the progress made as well as the dispariti es that sti ll prevail.

9 We are therefore revisiti ng our Strategic Framework along with the Internati onal Labor Organizati on (ILO). I am humbled by the support that this project has enjoyed from all the provinces and various players in the South African economy. As I present this Status Quo Report, let us take heart of the progress made and note the long way ahead of Report provides a comprehensive review of the context for gender and women s economic empowerment in South Africa. It further, gives details of a wide range of insti tuti onal and policy frameworks that aff ect women s parti cipati on in the economy . Whilst this is work in progress, the report highlights signifi cant fi ndings and presents a series of recommendati ons designed to inform the revision of the dti s Strategic Framework on Gender and women s economic empowerment going forward. I highlight in parti cular three considerable issues raised that will certainly take primacy as we update the strategy.

10 These are the following: Defi ning women s economic empowerment , Balancing Gender Mainstreaming with women specifi c programming and targeti ng women for economic empowerment through Enterprise development. These issues in questi on together with the specifi c recommendati ons compel us to rethink and improve on our current service off erings. Findings from both the situati onal analysis studies and the various consultati ve sessions held throughout the country provide a condensed view of the diff erent key stakeholders and aff ected groups. I call on all organs of the state and our partners to follow the process and walk with us to deliver a quality Strategic Framework on Gender and women economic empowerment that will yield the vision we all have- that of economic independence for women . This Report is a considerable milestone TOWARDS updati ng the Strategic Framework on Gender and women s economic empowerment and I am confi dent that despite the challenges, we will in the course of this fi nancial year table the fi nal framework before thank youElizabeth Thabethe, MPDeputy Minister, Trade & IndustryForewordI thank youElizabeth Thabethe, MPAnalysis of Gender and women s economic EmpowermentMessage of SupportUnder the current mandate, more emphasis is placed on the implementati on of key strategic programs that contribute to the achievement of inclusive growth, job creati on as well as industrial competi ti veness and provision of leadership in trade policy as contained in the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for 2009 2014 cited by the Honorable Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.