It’s been 70 years since South Africa’s women marched on the Union Buildings, warning government that when you strike a woman, you strike a rock. But how much, exactly, has changed for women in this country since then?
A look at WOMEN’S progress across all spheres – political, professional and social – shows a decidedly mixed bag. While there has undoubtedly been advancement in certain areas, there is still a far way to go.
For Ciara Reintjes, Regional Lead: Northern Region in Strategic Affairs at SAICA, one of the most interesting statistics demonstrating these contrasts is the fact that back in 1956, the Women’s March was attended by 20 000 women from all areas of South African life – employed, unemployed, Black and White. ‘Today, almost 29 000 SAICA members – nearly 45% of the total membership base – are female,’ she says.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE …
But this is where we encounter the first challenge: while the figures look encouraging, for many women, the lived reality is largely unchanged. Reintjes notes that women still face more barriers to qualifying as a CA(SA), and even those who excel professionally often carry a significant mental load related to their responsibilities as wives and mothers.
Carmen Murray, founder of Conscious LeadHERS, agrees. Women in 1956 weren’t only marching against pass laws, she points out. They were demanding the enactment of the 1954 Women’s Charter, which outlined stipulations for equal employment opportunities, equal pay, promotion, political rights, property rights, childcare and paid maternity leave. On the surface, it appears that those rights are now universal: as Murray says, women may now enter university, the workplace, Parliament and the boardroom. ‘The question is, what happens once they arrive? Are they safe there? Are they heard? Can they influence decisions? And do they share in the value they help create – or are they sometimes present only to satisfy a requirement, while real authority remains elsewhere?’
… THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
Murray’s concerns are borne out by a look at women’s trajectory from the time they leave school. She reports that women outnumber men across much of the post-school system – but something happens when they enter the labour market. ‘In the first quarter of 2026, the official unemployment rate for women was 36,4%, compared with 29,6% for men,” Murray says. She adds that, according to the Commission for Employment Equity, women’s presence lessens throughout the professional pipeline: Women account for 49,4% of professionally qualified employees and 38,6% of senior managers, but only 29,3% of top managers. Simply put, although women make valuable contributions, efficiently carrying out tasks like managing relationships, building culture, solving problems, mentoring colleagues, preserving institutional knowledge and holding teams together, this does not always convert into promotion, strategic assignments, sponsorship, public authorship, succession opportunities or decision-making authority, says Murray. She is worried that this trend will deepen over time, as many of the positions traditionally attracting women – like administrative, clerical, customer service and support roles – involve the jobs that are most likely to be performed by AI.
SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS
This tendency to ‘disappear into the system’, as Murray puts it, has significant implications for women’s representation at leadership level. For example, data from Just Share shows that in 2025, women occupied 38% of board seats of the JSE Top 40 but only 27,4% of executive positions.
There is a silver lining, however: while representation at corporate level may be less than satisfactory, women have established a significant presence in government. Female representation in Parliament rose from 33% in 2004 to 42,8% in 2024, with women accounting for 44,4% of the National Council of Provinces and 43,8% of Cabinet. That’s heartening, Murray maintains, because women’s growing visibility means the national image of authority is evolving.
RESOURCEFULNESS AND RESILIENCE
What about the entrepreneurship sphere? Here, too, there is a blend of positive and negative. A 2024 article on smesouthafrica.co.za cited the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, which reported that South Africa ranked second highest in Africa in terms of ‘its proportion of women-owned businesses and the formal support available for women entrepreneurs’.
Barriers to entry are still high, however, and Reintjes observes with concern that for many South African women, entrepreneurship may be a question of survival rather than the luxury of long-term strategic building of a viable business. Nonetheless, the success of women founders in this sector speaks to the resilience and strength of women: Ultimately, it highlights how the exceptional resourcefulness of women transforms survival into sustainable livelihoods.
A LONG WAY TO GO
It’s the social sphere that requires the most work, say Murray and Reintjes. For instance, the prevalence of gender-based violence (GBV) is alarming, with the first national South African gender-based violence study revealing that 33,1% of women aged 18 and older had experienced physical violence during their lifetime, while 9,8% had experienced sexual violence. ‘Overall, 35,5% had experienced physical and/or sexual violence,’ says Murray. ‘The physical-violence figure alone represents approximately 7,3 million women.’
Economic vulnerability is yet another factor putting women at risk. In 2023, 29,8% of female-headed households lived below the lower-bound poverty line, compared with 17.6% of male-headed households. Murray believes that the two issues are interlinked; after all, violence affects whether a woman can complete her education, travel to work, remain employed, relocate for an opportunity, participate publicly, or leave an abusive relationship.
GBV impacts women in the workplace, too. No matter how impressive a title, a woman is compromised if she is constantly calculating whether it is safe to disagree, or if she will be labelled aggressive; if reporting misconduct will damager her career, or whether a powerful perpetrator will be protected.
COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS
How can we make sure that South Africa’s women move past these obstacles? For Reintjes, it starts with having a mentor; someone who has walked a similar path, whether personal or professional, and can show you how to navigate challenges.
Murray builds on this foundation by advocating for a transition from mentorship to assigning women sponsors. ‘A mentor gives advice. A sponsor adds to this by placing her name on a succession list, recommending her for a significant role, introducing her to powerful networks, connecting her to revenue and defending her credibility when she is not in the room,’ she says.
Reintjes says that organisations can help women’s progress by ensuring that policies allow for flexible work/life integration – there’s a difference between being physically present at work, and psychologically present, she points out – and by taking heed of the micro-actions that turn a paper-based policy into real transformation.
‘We should all remember that the Women’s March was about courage – and courage is contagious. When one of us acts to change things, others will follow suit,’ she says.
Author
Lisa Witepski
