Some statistics to shock you
were women. Of all the households in the rural areas, 59% are female-headed. The nuclear family is not the norm in South Africa, it is common for women as single parents, or the widowed, divorced and deserted to head families. In total 1,9 million households are headed by women. In 1993, 43% of African women and 52% of Coloured women, were single mothers, however almost all title deeds to homes in South Africa are in the hands of men. In the 1994 budget married women continued to be taxed more heavily than married men. The 1995 budget finally taxed married men and married women equally. In 1993, 1,3% of the directors of the 657 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange were women. In 1991 women constituted 1,6% of engineers, 5,1% of managing directors and 11,5% of lawyers.Unemployed women amount to 25% and 19% of women are domestic workers. In 1990 women accounted for 47,8% of the total university enrolment. Of these women 49% were white, 38% African, 7% Coloured and 6% Indian. In 1991 40% of applications for legal abotions were successful. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 illegal abortions occur each year in South Africa. Only 2,8% of rapes are reported. In 1993, 28,318 rapes were officially reported in South Africa. Based on this figure, the total amount of rapes in 1993 would be approximately 966,000. Between 1983 and 1992 the number of reported rapes increased by 64%. African women reported 95% of the total number of reported rapes. In 1993 marital rape finally became a crime in South Africa. In 1993 only one of the Appeal Court judges was a woman, and at the Supreme Court level one out of 138 judges was a woman. Approximately 1 in 3 of the members of parliament are women and most of them are in minor positions. All the provincial premiers are men. Sources: 1. Race Relations Survey 1993-1994 2. The Beijing Conference Report 1994 Country Report on the Status of South African women. 3. Putting the Affirmative into Action, published by UCT. 4. Rhoda Kadalie, "Women in the new South Africa: from transition to governance", 1994 Statistics compiled by Carolyn Massey |