Gender equality in labour force participation, economic growth and development in South Africa

Abstract

Studies in feminist literature have found that development effects gender equality in labour force participation, but gender equality has also been found to effect economic growth. These two streams of literature, however, lie largely distinct with few studies directly investigating the inter-relationships between development, growth and gender equality, and as such, this lack of knowledge curtails the development of appropriate policy. This study explores the effect of development on gender equality in labour force participation and the effect of this gender equality on economic growth in South Africa on a quarterly basis from 2008 to 18 using Autoregressive Distributive Lag models. Economic development is found to have a positive effect on gender equality in the long run while greater female participation in the labour market is found to have no effect on growth. These results suggest that further development should be prioritised to support gender parity in economic opportunities in South Africa.