• President Cyril Ramaphosa said economic inequality and social inequality were interconnected and the economic status of women made them vulnerable to abuse.
• Ramaphosa said government set a target of at least 40% of goods and services procured by public entities to be sourced from women-owned businesses.
• He said the private sector had a duty to protect women from harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly newsletter on Monday morning, following National Women’s Day on Sunday, that a key aspect of government’s gender equality policies and plans focused on ensuring "greater women's financial inclusion".

The national public holiday of Women's Day chiefly commemorates the 1956 march to the Union Buildings by women protesting against the apartheid government's dompass laws and other forms of legislation such as the Urban Areas Act.

Today, Women's Day remembers this occasion whilst bringing sharp focus to current challenges facing South African women today, including gender-based violence, wage inequality and the highest levels of vulnerability to unemployment, poverty and economic exclusion.

Ramaphosa wrote that because economic inequality and social inequality were interconnected, the economic status of women in South Africa made them vulnerable to abuse.

"We must therefore scale up support for women to enable them to become financially independent," Ramaphosa wrote.

Ramaphosa wrote that government's plan for women's economic inclusion would include public procurement, where government set a target of at least 40% of goods and services procured by public entities are sourced from women-owned businesses.

"Secondly, we are going to scale up support for women-owned SMMEs and for women who work in the informal sector or are unemployed. This will include engagement with the financial sector to make financial services accessible and affordable for women," said Ramaphosa.

He said government would work to ensure more women's access to land in government's accelerate land reform programme.

"It is significant that of the R75 million in Covid-19 relief earmarked for farming input vouchers 53% of the beneficiaries will be rural women. We must ensure that women subsistence and small-scale farmers continue to receive support beyond the pandemic," he said.

Ramaphosa said the private sector had a critical role to play with regards to women's economic inclusion, starting with protecting women from harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

"By equal measure, we must eliminate gender disparities in pay for men and women and give effect to the principle of equal pay for equal work contained in the Employment Equity Act," Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa said the challenges facing women in the economy and broader society were the subject of ongoing discussions he would continue to have with women's business organisations.