A top Chief Executive Officer in South Africa (SA) earns in less than four hours what a minimum-wage domestic worker earns in a full year, according to a Women’s Day statement released by Oxfam SA.
The comparison highlights the deep-seated economic inequality that persists in the country, where essential care and domestic labor, disproportionately performed by women, remain severely undervalued.
Released ahead of National Women’s Day, which marks the 70th anniversary of the historic 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings, the statement underscores that economic justice remains unrealised for millions of SA women.
Oxfam SA noted that while extraordinary wealth accumulates at the top, women continue to carry the financial and social burden of lower wages, informal employment, and uncompensated care work.
The advocacy group called on policy-makers and the private sector to implement systemic reforms, including closing the gender pay gap, ensuring living wages, and strengthening social support systems to address structural inequality.
–ChannelAfrica/Oxfam–
