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08 April 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Sonia SMall

How has COVID-19 further widened the gender inequality gap in the workplace?

This was the central question addressed during the first instalment of a webinar series on Gender and Social Justice hosted by the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice at the University of the Free State (UFS). The webinar, which was hosted on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus on 29 March 2021, featured Prof Pearl Sithole, Qwaqwa Campus Vice-Principal: Academic and Research; Advocate Nthabiseng Sepanya-Mogale, Commissioner at the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE); and Tholo Motaung, skills trainer, moderator, and gender activist at the Vaal University of Technology as panellists. 

Prof Sithole said COVID-19 revealed the disparity that still exists between men and women in the workplace. “COVID-19 has been the magnifier. We’ve modernised quite a lot, but we’re still unequal in terms of gender. Why are we not progressing in terms of women moving forward towards equality when there has been so much progressive thinking in the political space, social justice space, as well as in the kind of feminism we have had in academia? Why are we actually not winning the battle of just regarding each other as equals?” 

Women hardest hit by COVID-19 lockdown

Advocate Sepanya-Mogale said the lockdown revealed the gender gap mostly through the significant impact it has had on South African women.

In 2020, 34% of the country’s workforce comprised women – a sharp decline of 9,8% from 43,8% in 2018.
“This decline is alarming and a clear indication of who becomes the first victims, but that is hardly talked about. A lot of women have experienced resistance from industries they had been serving diligently,” she said. She said women were often faced with the burden of integrating their work with increased care responsibilities for their children and sometimes also the elderly as primary caregivers. The double responsibility placed on women continues to re-enforce gender roles in our societies and further pushes away the success of closing the gap on gender equality prospects in our society.

Advocate Sepanya-Mogale said women were the hardest hit in most industries. In the beauty and tourism industry; air transportation; informal trading; and healthcare sector to name a few, women bore the brunt the most. “Women are the biggest employees on all economic levels in South Africa, especially the low-income and unskilled levels,” she said.
She said as the spread of the virus was likely to continue disrupting economic activity, all sectors of society needed to get involved and play their part.

“As disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international action is required to not only save lives but to also protect economic prosperity. Academic institutions are authorities in terms of opening up new discussions, leading new debates, and putting critical issues at the centre of the table. Let us all do what we can so that we empower our people relevantly for the times we’re living in.”

News Archive

Institute launches Human Rights Desk
2013-10-22

 

Attending the launch of the first Human Rights Desk were from left: Prof Teuns Verschoor, former Vice-Rector: Institutional Affairs, Dr Leon Wessels, human rights activist and lawyer, and Dr Choice Makhetha, Vice-Rector: External Relations.
Photo: Huibrecht Hoffman
22 October 2013

The university has created another beacon for social justice and reconciliation with the launch of its first Human Rights Desk (HRD) on the Bloemfontein Campus. The HRD, which falls under the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, will promote, protect and monitor human rights at the university.

Speaking at the launch of the HRD, Prof Andre Keet, Director of the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, said the desk will investigate reported violations of human rights on campus. "It will investigate any cases that require investigation, as well as various other projects that serves the university and national and international imperatives as far as human rights is concerned.”

Prof Keet told students and staff in attendance that the desk is an expression of the university's commitment. "As a university, we have to own this particular desk, as a collective entity we should make it work and be proud of it. Our task is to build a new form of productivity into the language of rights, and build a culture of human rights among our students, which we can already see emerging."

Also speaking at the event, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, said the HRD will be a place where people can come who are hurt. He encouraged students to speak on human rights anywhere in the world. "I want you to think of yourself as a borderless human being, for human rights are not geographically confined. I want you to also hurt when somebody in a mall in Kenya gets hurt."

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