SA’s earnings gap is closing, but women still lag 16c behind men

For every R1 a man earned in South Africa in 2022, a woman earned 16c less, according to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

SARS data, which is based on people’s taxable incomes, shows that the gap between men and women’s earnings is slowly closing. On average, women in South Africa earned 28c less per rand than men in 2011. By 2022, the most recent data available, women were earning 84c for every rand a man earned.

UN Women reports that, globally, women are on average paid 23% less than men. No country has achieved equitable pay for men and women. The closest are the Nordic countries of Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In the US, women earn 18% less than men, according to the Pew Research Center.