Achieving Women Empowerment in Two Decades of Democracy in South Africa: A Wishful Dreamland?

Abstract

This paper is to evaluate the manifestation of democracy in South Africa as it reaches twenty years of existence. South Africa marks twenty years of democracy with the unanswered the extent at which women benefitted from democracy through authentic engagement in improving policies that directly address their needs and social protection. Policies on issues of gender and administration were passed since 1994 to benefit the women folk. But it has been argued that South Africa’s democratic constitutional standing on implementation of policies passed since its inception has not been satisfactorily implemented. This paper will therefore argue for women empowerment at managerial positions and employment equity within the country, identify the missing gaps in showing that democracy as adopted per the constitutional founding is not authentic enough to take South Africa beyond its twenty years of democracy in achieving women empowerment. The paper conclude that South Africa need to review and upgrade policy implementation and look deeper into issues of women empowerment within the three spheres of government and generally improve the living conditions of its citizens.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p1079