The development status of women in South Africa: patterns, progress and profiles

[摘要] English: A search for reasons for the continued distinction of women as being the poorest of the poor, despite decades of development efforts, necessarily leads to a need for assessing the development status of women. In the case of South Africa, with its progressive policies on gender equality, such an assessment also serves as testimony to the success with which the integration of gender concerns into society has translated into the well-being of women. The development status of women in South Africa, and changes therein between 1996/98 and 2001/3, are central to this study. A gender-disaggregated adaptation of the Human Development Index (HDI) is developed and applied to South African national and provincial data to find differences in the levels and rates of change in the development status of women, compared with that of men. The development areas on which the HDI is based are examined to identify areas of particular weakness in terms of poor female development status. Measurement of the well-being of South African women is expanded by supplementing the HDI-based measures with the Gender Development Index (GDI), the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), and two 'power status' indicators �?the Decision-Making Index (DMI) and the Threshold Measure of Women's Status (TMWS). Each of these indices offers but one perspective on the development status of women, leading to a fragmented picture. In order to provide a more broad-based, holistic picture of the well-being of women, it is proposed that a suite of indices be combined into a measurement framework, called the Women's Development Status Profile (WDSP). This evaluation of the well-being of women from a number of perspectives makes for a more balanced assessment. The findings of this study can be summarised as follows:•Between 1996 and 2001 the development status of women in South Africa declined on a national level, in both absolute and (especially) relative terms.•This national trend was present throughout the nine provinces, albeit in varying degrees.•Women residing in provinces with a pre-existing weak absolute development status appear to be predisposed to also having a poor development status relative to men.•There was a distinct difference between the provinces in their absolute and relative development levels. Although provincial ranking patterns did not change much between 1996 and 2001, interprovincial performance gaps in female development status narrowed in both absolute and relative terms.•Whereas female economic activity was the principal area of weakness in 1996, female life expectancy emerged as a new area of concern by 2001 on an absolute level. Unemployment and illiteracy were the weakest areas in terms of relative female development. The rapid decline in female primary school gross enrolment ratios between the two years calls for further scrutiny.•A comparison of the five gendered indices confirmed the provincial ranking positions of Western Cape and Gauteng as the best performers in terms of the development status of women, with Limpopo as the weakest performer. Other provinces had less clear patterns in this regard.•The WDSP shows that women in the Western Cape and Gauteng enjoyed a relatively high female development status compared with other provinces, while the women of Limpopo had the weakest female development status for the years 1996/98 and 2001/03.•The distinction between development potential and actual development afforded by the WDSP, reveals that female development potential had made significant strides between 1996/8 and 2001/3, resulting in a more balanced Women's Development Status Profile. The significant decline in the actual development status of women, in large part owing to a decline in life expectancy (and likely to be linked to the impact of HIV/AIDS), is nevertheless most disconcerting.This thesis offers a holistic and comprehensive measurement framework by means of which to assess the development status of women that will hopefully lead to appropriate policy steps and social changes to ensure sustained development.

[发布机构] University of the Free State