SA’s elections are a chance to advance gender equality

The document highlights the gap between women's high voter registration numbers and their limited representation in political leadership and skilled employment in South Africa. It calls on young people to use the 2019 elections to force gender equality onto the political agenda, noting that women remain more likely to be unemployed and are under-represented in the top leadership of the ANC, DA, and EFF.

• Women constitute a majority of the South African electorate, with 14,431,172 (55%) of the 26 million citizens registered for the 2019 election being women as of June 2018.
• Women's political representation in Parliament has fluctuated, dropping from a 44% high in 2009 to a lower figure in 2014, before reaching 41.8% according to 2017 International Parliamentary Union statistics.
• Leadership in South Africa's three largest political parties remains male-dominated: the African National Congress top six and Democratic Alliance top eight each have only one woman, while the Economic Freedom Fighters have women in two of six top positions.
• Economic inequality persists as women, especially young women, face higher unemployment rates than men, and women's share of skilled posts (managers, professionals, and technicians) has remained stagnant at 44% since 2002.

APA

Tracey-Temba, L., & Roberts, M. (n.d.). SA’s elections are a chance to advance gender equality. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/sas-elections-are-a-chance-to-advance-gender-equality

Chicago

Tracey-Temba, Lauren, and Miche Roberts. SA’s elections are a chance to advance gender equality. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/sas-elections-are-a-chance-to-advance-gender-equality.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Tracey-Temba |first1=Lauren |last2=Roberts |first2=Miche |title=SA’s elections are a chance to advance gender equality |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/sas-elections-are-a-chance-to-advance-gender-equality |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{traceytembandsas, author = {Tracey-Temba, Lauren and Roberts, Miche}, title = {{SA’s elections are a chance to advance gender equality}}, publisher = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/sas-elections-are-a-chance-to-advance-gender-equality}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }