Expanding the suite of measures of gender-based discrimination: gender differences in ablution facilities in South Africa

Abstract

International treaties, national legislation and local by-laws all advocate the equal treatment of men and women, but claims of gender-based discrimination continue. Indicators of discrimination against women, including employment ratios and differences in income, show that there have been considerable gains in the recent past. These measures are, however, often biased. In this study a different, specific and concrete method of describing and detecting discrimination is presented, namely the difference in the number of ablution facilities provided for each gender group in public spaces. Ablution facilities at airports, train stations and shopping centres in four major South African cities (N=128) were inspected. Medium to large differences in the respective number of facilities were found (eta 2 .05 to .13), with women receiving fewer service facilities than men. These results suggest that, despite progressive legislation and vigorous affirmative action in South Africa, local women are still being discriminated against on a very concrete, visible level. The effectiveness of the measurement tool is also discussed.

An investigation into e-learning acceptance and gender amongst final year students

“…This gave birth to the formation of a government department, the Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disability which was set up to deal with issues that affect women, girls and the vulnerable. Despite these efforts, gender inequality is believed to still be prevalent in various sectors and situations in South Africa such as the economy (Hlekiso & Mahlo 2006), corporate sector (Moletsane & Reddy 2008), service delivery (Steyn 2012), training and development (Chinyamurindi & Louw 2010), and within the classroom (Hammond et al 2007;Mahlomaholo 2011). This research answers calls for studies that focus on the role of science and technology on the lives of people (Reddy et al 2013) particularly within education research (Flipsen & van der Weide 2009).…”

Occupational segregation and gender pay gap dynamics in the formal sector of South Africa

“…According to Buhai, Portela, Teulings and Van Vuuren (2014), income increases with seniority, whilst Ebrahim (2017) described seniority as a justification for an income difference, regarded as fair. The entry of highly educated women into male occupations and the effect thereof on the narrowing of the gender pay gap is well documented in the literature (Drolet & Mumford, 2012;Steyn, 2012;Steyn & Jackson, 2015).…”

“…The study found that significantly more men than women are used in the formal sector. The implication is that women are still vastly under-represented in employment, and discrimination being a factor cannot be ruled out (Gnesi, De Santis, & Cardinaleschi, 2016;Steyn, 2012), as the fact remains that women constitute more than 50% of working-age adults in South Africa (Motsoeneng & Kahn, 2014;Steyn, 2012).…”

“…Research indicates improved labour force participation of women and a narrowed gender pay gap in various countries around the world, including South Africa (Bishu & Alkadry, 2017;Blau, Brummund, & Liu, 2013;Steyn, 2012). A South African study of 1740 respondents from 29 organisations conducted by Steyn and Jackson (2015) found that, whilst the pay of men is mostly higher than that of women, the gap is not statistically significant.…”