For many women in South Africa, keeping a job is more important than demanding higher pay

– Women around the world are struggling as inflation rises and the gender pay gap persists

– In South Africa, because of the underlying systems, it’s a bit harder for us to navigate this conversation, say both people and organisations, weaning expert Zanele Njafa (TomorrowToday)

Women around the world are struggling as inflation rises and the gender pay gap persists.

South Africa is ranked 123 out of 146 countries in the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report.

In South Africa, the issue is back in the spotlight after Banyana Banyana were crowned champions of the 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations (Wafcon).

The women’s football team is far superior to Bafana Bafana and now the government has promised to close the pay disparity between the two national teams.

How the gender pay gap leaves women underinsured compared to men

The new law will force companies to reveal the difference in wages between the highest and lowest paid

What can organizations do to address this perennial issue of the gender pay gap?

The Money Show interviews Zanele Nyafa, known in her industry as “the uneducated lady”.

Njafa is a learning expert and innovation facilitator at specialist business consultancy TomorrowToday.

It really feels like one of those conversations that we will always have, especially in South Africa.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

We are still at 23% to 35% with our average gender pay gap at the moment. In the local context, this is exacerbated by the fact that more than 40% of South African mothers are single parents.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

I think contextually, as a country, we have all these underlying systems that make it almost a little bit more difficult to navigate that for both individuals and organizations.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

Why do companies get away with it even when there are rules like this

look at it twice:
1 of thgs are organizations that actually have regulatory systems within the organization to ensure that those particular laws and systems are followed.
So to what extent does the law on organizations make it mandatory to keep these things?

The other side of that is where most of the work is with the person… we have almost a misunderstanding (in the amazing organizations we work for) about how much we can ask for… around what it means to get a good pay, but this disparity exists primarily in our workplaces.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

To this day, talking about money and salary is almost forbidden in most countries.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

She agrees that with so many single-mother-headed households in South Africa, keeping a job is often a priority rather than demanding a pay rise.

But when it comes to the more important conversation, women consistently lose.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

Another factor is that women in South Africa live much longer than men, she says.

As a result, women will need more health care for nearly a decade, living longer than their male counterparts.

You can also see that female-headed households are about 40% poorer than male-headed households in South Africa. So this whole context really makes women in the workplace today say, “I’d rather just shut up.”

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

But what starts to happen when we get the short end of the stick is you really start to feel the pain of not asking for more, not having the conversation, and not taking that almost leadership role around what it means to earn , but also receive good compensation in the workplace.

Zanele Nyafa, Unlearning Expert and Innovation Facilitator – TomorrowToday

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This article first appeared on CapeTalk: For many women in South Africa, keeping their jobs is more important than asking for higher pay