More than three decades into democracy, South African women are still earning 35% less than men for the same work, with voluntary government interventions falling short in compelling companies to close gender pay gaps.

According to recent data from the World Economic Forum and other sources, in South Africa the gender pay gap in 2025 shows women earn 23% to 35% less than men for the same work. This translates to women earning roughly R72,44 for every R100 earned by men. A significant portion of this gap is attributed to women working in lower-paying companies and industries.

Stellenbosch University experts in their paper titled, Gender pay transparency mechanisms: Future directions for South Africa, say that despite various pieces of legislation aimed at preventing gender discrimination in the workplace, South Africa has a stagnant median gender pay gap of between 23% and 35%. The average global gap is about 20%, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Professor Anita Bosch, Research Chair for Women at Work at Stellenbosch Business School, and Shimon Barit, a Research Fellow at Stellenbosch Business School, said that the difference in wages between men and women for the same type of work or work of equal value is a stumbling block in achieving gender equality in South Africa. 

The gender pay gap seems to affect women in the middle and upper wage bands the most. This is where pay transparency, which is making gender differences in wages known to employees, government, and the public, can compel employers to remunerate fairly and equally, Bosch and Barit said.

Teboho Thejane, spokesperson for the Department of Employment and Labour, said Sections 6(4) and 6(5) of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, No. 47 of 2013 (EEA, 2013), including regulations 2 to 7 of the EE Regulations, 2025; and the Code of Good Practice on Equal Remuneration/ Pay for Work of Equal Value, 2015, already regulates the implementation of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value by all employers in the South African labour market. 

“In relation to the enforcement of this equal pay principle, sections 10 and 11 of the EEAA, 2013, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the Labour Court (LC) have legal powers to provide dispute resolution and remedies for equal pay disputes referred to them. Therefore, thus far, there have not been any rationale or grounds to initiate proposed amendments to strengthen these equal pay provisions,” Thejane said.   

He added that employers with 50 or more employees are required in terms of section 27 of the Employment Equity Act, 1998 (EEA) as amended to annually submit the Income Differential Statement (EEA4 form) to the National Minimum Wage Commission (NMWC) on their workplace income or pay differentials and the measures taken to address these income/pay/wage disparities. 

“The EEA4 form was amended to align with the recent amendments to the Companies Act and was published as part of the EE Regulations, 2025. The aim of the amendments was to improve the quality of Income Differential data submitted by designated employers. 

“Employers will only start submitting the Income Differential data utilising the amended EEA4 form from 1 September 2025 until 15 January 2026 (midnight) through the EE Online Reporting platform. Subsequently, the NMWC will analyse the data and submit a report to advise the Minister on a way forward as per Section 27 of the EEA as amended,” he said.

Thejane added that all employers, irrespective of their size, are required by law to comply with these provisions of equal pay, including the EE Regulations and the Equal Pay Code from August 2014. 

This means that if any employer is found to be contravening these provisions and an aggrieved employee refers an equal pay dispute to the CCMA and the Labour Courts, the legal recourse process must be followed as per sections 10 and 11 of the EEA, he said.  

“Furthermore, the labour inspectors when they conduct their Director-General Reviews as per sections 43-45 of the EEA (i.e. substantive assessment of compliance process) have powers to analyse the EE Plans of the designated employers and determine if there are any workplace remuneration policies in place and what measures are undertaken by the company to address any wage or pay disparities, if any. 

“Under the DG Review process, if there is non-compliance, the DG Recommendations will be issued to the company with timelines to comply. However, labour inspectors have no legal powers to enforce in terms of compliance orders; the CCMA and the Labour Courts have powers to enforce and issue remedies on disputes of equal pay,” Thejane highlighted.

He said that in most instances, people working in the informal economy are mostly self-employed as a form of survival and self-sustainability because of a lack of jobs in the formal economy. However, if there is an employer-employee relationship between the person selling on the street and the supplier of goods to be sold, the labour laws provide legal protection to those employees or workers, including women. 

“It appears as if there are elements of exploitation and vulnerability due to the nature of operations and working relations in the informal economy, which require extensive deliberations by NEDLAC Social Partners (i.e., organised business; organised labour; government and community constituencies) to address these challenges emanating from the informal economy. The Department plays an advisory role. Advocacy is provided to sensitise employers not to discriminate against any employee based on the listed grounds, as well as on any arbitrary ground,” he said.

Employers are informed of the repercussions if found to have committed discrimination on any ground, and employees are advised and assisted to refer matters of alleged discrimination,” Thejane said.

Gugu McLaren-Ushewokunze, Head of Economic Inclusion and Social Transformation at the National Business Initiative (NBI), a voluntary coalition of South African and multinational companies, said that the NBI has developed a free, secure online Gender Pay Gap (GPG) tool to help member companies measure and visualise their gender pay gaps.

“The NBI emphasises that while South African legislation, particularly Section 27 of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) and the 2014 EEA Regulations on Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value, requires designated employers to report pay differentials to the Department of Employment and Labour, this is not public reporting. Public disclosure remains voluntary.

“We encourage companies to go beyond compliance by voluntarily disclosing pay gap data. Voluntary public reporting demonstrates transparency, accountability, and genuine commitment to gender equity,” McLaren-Ushewokunze said.

She said that the key challenges are the reluctance of businesses to disclose sensitive pay information publicly and challenges in anonymising and securely processing payroll data at an organisational level. There is also fear of external backlash if significant gaps are disclosed without an accompanying improvement plan, and many companies stop at fulfilling EEA requirements without embracing voluntary transparency.

“The 2021 pilot report explicitly recognises that occupational segregation where women are disproportionately represented in lower-paying or unskilled roles is a major structural driver of the pay gap. Companies are encouraged to analyse pay gaps by occupation and role level and use these insights to guide targeted recruitment, skills development, and promotion strategies that actively disrupt patterns of workplace segregation,” she said.

Bosch and Barit said that employers should be penalised for non-compliance.

“It is recommended that a financial penalty be levied for unjustifiable and stagnant gender pay gaps among the employees of the same employer, one that is sufficient to act as a deterrent to non-compliance,” the experts said.

They noted that the EEA mainly addresses pay discrimination at the individual job level.

“It is recommended that companies discuss equal gender pay, including pay audits, during collective bargaining. The effectiveness of this measure depends on the development of collective bargaining in a specific sector,” they said.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za

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