DRIVERS OF FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN

SOUTH AFRICA
Enable every woman who can work to take her
place on the labour front, under the principle of
equal pay for equal work.
Mao Zedong
INTRODUCTION
Over the past years globally and historically women have been previously
disadvantaged in the labour market since they found themselves subject to
different types of discriminatory behaviour, attitudes and policies (Such as
apartheid in South Africa) which prevented their full participation in the labour
force (Chris, 2016). Female labour force participation has gained interest among
researchers and development specialists worldwide due to their significant
contribution in measuring the progress being made toward gender equality
(Amoateng et al., 2003). The total number of females in the labour force
increased by approximately 50 million over the years (Contemporary Labor
Economics, 2015:65).
The key question that arises is what entices the participation rate of females?
Which social and economic factors drive this increasing participation rate of
women in the labour market? Well in this research essay we are going to outline
the main socio-economic factors that swell the participation rate of females in
the labour force. This paper analyses the response of female labour force
participation to the evolution of labour markets and policies supporting the
reconciliation of work and family life (Olivier, 2013:4).

CONTEXTUALISING
DRIVERS
OF
PARTICIPATION RATE IN SOUTH AFRICA

FEMALE

RISING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE HOUSEHOLD

According to increasing womens efficiency in home production (1990), women
partition their day among three noteworthy sorts of exercises: market
production, household production, and speculation/therapeutic exercises such as
rest, learning, encouraging social ties. For potential change in females
wholesome obligations is to enhance their proficiency in home creation. On the
off chance that females can spare time or their own vitality through these
enhancements, they can utilize the freed time to engage in income paying work
and by doing so, participation in the labour force increases. Although it is not
clearly visible, innovation brought a change to the number of females in the
labour force (Vuyo, 2016). Accurately in light of the technological changes in the
household, the nature of family unit work changed extensively, and, in Ruth
Cowan's words, wiped out drudgery, not labour (Joel Mokyr, 2000:4).

EXPANDING JOB ACCESSIBILITY

According to Walby (1997:1) on extending work openness as one of the
components influencing cooperation of females in the labour market, there is a
standout amongst the most essential reason in changes in occupation availability
which it has been the expanded instructive level or capabilities picked up by a
female. Also, as for this situation the better qualified a female is, the more
probable she is to increment nor extend her odds to land employment nor
position access. Furthermore, Walby (1997:41) states that taking a gander at the
illustration to interface the above passage is in training, where females are
finishing their capabilities than men which make new open doors for these
females. Through these open doors causes an expansion in investment of women
in the job market, for instance females are presently nearly 50% of all specialists
in the contemporary SA. Where in 1995 they were 49.6 for each penny of
workers in the livelihood (Employment Gazette, April 1996) and 33% of the job
market, females were the dominant part of those in work.

RISING REAL WAGES OF WOMEN IN SOUTH

AFRICA
An increase in real wages for women can be regarded as one of the most
important drivers in the rise of female participation rates. Lee and Mather
(2008:6) state that since 1970, the extent of all females in the work power has
expanded from 43 percent to about 60 percent because of the rise in real wages,
while the extent of men in the work power diminished somewhat, from 80 % to
73 % in 2007.
According to data provided in an article from the Department of Labour, it is
evident that there has been a total employment growth of female workers by
sector from 1995 to 2005. Female employees in the tertiary area profited from
very nearly 48% of the occupations made somewhere around 1995 and 2005,
wholesale and retail exchange part represented the biggest offer of 26, 3% total
livelihood development, budgetary and business administrations represented 10,
5% of the aggregate increment in employment (Department of Labour, 2005).
Schein (2007: 16-18) states that mens attitudes of think manager-think male
has changed over the decades which led to the outcomes for women's
advancement in management today. The reduced wage discrimination for
women and the expansion of the services sector made it possible for women to
experience an increase in their income. Based on Beckers substitution effect
women earn a higher wage by increasing their hours of work which result in less
household production allowing them to substitute goods for a time in the
production of commodities. Thus, better wages may likewise have given a
motivating force for females to enter the workforce.

DECLINE IN BIRTH RATES

2

Decline in birthrates is one of the factors that influence the participation rate of
females in the labour force. High wages tend to lower the birth rate since it
raises the opportunity cost of children. The impact of children on participation
has declined over time. Children are costly in modern contexts: the fewer
children one has, the better, and having no children is the best. In any case,
there have not been vast increases in the extent of ladies who expect to have no
children. Truth be told, the length of females who mean to have two children is
overwhelming in most created nations (Bongaarts, 2002) . There has also been
some increase in employment among women over the same period. According to
Bulatao, Rodolfo and Ronald (1983), states that in Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries the cross-country correlation
between the total fertility rate and the female labour market participation rate
turned from a negative value before the 1980s to a positive value after that. In
the developed industrialised countries, increasing female labour force
participation has been linked to the completion of the fertility transition. The
increase in Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLPR) is widely influenced by
a decline in birthrates.

GROWING SUPPORT TO COMBINE WORK AND

FAMILY
According to Thvenon (2013:17) government approaches to help parents
accomplish work-life balance are likewise key determinants of the rate at which
female investment in the work power has extended after the mid-1980s. children
related leave privileges, the procurement of childcare administrations for working
parents with offspring of pre-school age and exchanges through assessment and
advantage frameworks which influence monetary points of interest for parents
and their groups of being paid in job are the three primary arrangement
instruments utilized as a part of backing to join work and family by the
legislature . Working parents' qualifications to take leave from work to look after
a young or new-conceived child exist in all OECD nations and numerous nonOECD countries. One reason for this procurement is to permit females to
enhance female work power connection. Furthermore, Thvenon (2013:19)
states that the accessible confirmation recommends that, all things considered,
the procurement of paid leave delivers a slight increment in the extent of ladies
occupied with paid work (Thvenon, 2013:19).
The supply of child care services for kids under three years old assumes a
distinct part in helping females to adjust work duties and family obligations. The
outline of duty and advantages frameworks is likewise a critical measurement of
the motivating factors women may have for entering or staying in occupation.
Ladies are frequently the "second worker" in family units. i.e. they gain not
exactly their accomplice. Their work supply is profoundly receptive to varieties in
assessment rates, particularly when they can without much of a stretch
substitute their business sector exercises with home generation (Garibaldi &
Wasmer, 2004).

INCREASING DIVORCE RATES

One of the biggest reasons women enter the labour force is because of the rise in
divorce rates, so they want to be financial stable after such incidents. Patterns of
marriage, divorce, remarriage, and re-divorce were examined in several
representative Western cultures through survey questions and archival data to
test the hypothesis that marriage and divorce can be understood as expressions
of underlying gender-specific, fitness maximisation strategies (Buckle, Gallup and
Rodd, 1996:363).
Furthermore, Buckle et*al.*(1996:364), once divorced,
however, formerly married females were less likely to remarry than previously
married male (Buckle et*al.,*1996:365), and the fact that More than half of all
divorces (54.9%) are between couples with children under the age of 18 while
unmarried women are likely to enter the labour force so that they can take care
of themselves and their children.
Divorce rates in South Africa have increased by 5%, according to data by Stats
SA. Statistics from 2012 shows that 161,112 marriages took place in SA while
just fewer than 22,000 marriages ended. Its commonly held belief that a high
divorce rate is a new trend of a lazier generation that refuses to stick it out and
make a marriage work. A research survey conducted by Pew Research in 2014
found that 40% of South Africans took moral objection to divorce versus a
combined 31% of people who said it was okay, or not a question of morality at
all. According to attorney Hugh Raichlin, however, current divorce rates are far
from new. What is a trend we are seeing is that the number of marriages has
decreased, he said during an interview with the SABC. Raichlin quoted a stat
showing that between 2003 2013, marriage has declined by 10% but this
could be because statistics on cohabitation arent being gathered, he said. Based
on this statistics women have become more cautious and they now try to enter
the labour force so that they can be financial stable in case there is a chance of a
divorce happening.

CONCLUSION
Possible factors suspected to have contributed to the increment of females in the
labour force have been critically analysed. Based on the findings, we can
assuredly comment that rising real wages for women, expanding job accessibility
and increasing divorce rates have played a huge role on the FLPR in South Africa.
Just like the riddle of the egg and the chicken, it is not clearly visible on which
one caused the other between increasing FLPR and decline in birth rates. The
female labour force participation has increased strongly in most OECD countries
over the last few decades (Jaumotte, 2003:1).

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