Suchergebnisse

This article examines the gender dimensions of the growth in informal and flexible work in South Africa and the government's policy response to this. It outlines the growth in informal and flexible work practices and, as illustrative examples, analyses how trade and industrial policies and labour market policies are impacting on the growth of informal and flexible work. It is argued that the South African government's trade and industrial policies are shifting the economy onto a path of capital intensification. Allied to this, firms are undergoing a process of extensive restructuring. These developments are further promoting the growth of flexibilization and informalization, and thereby disadvantaging women. The article demonstrates that whilst the government offers a vast package of support measures to big business, its policy is largely irrelevant to the survivalist segment of small business, where most women in the informal economy are to be found. The picture for labour policy is more diverse. Aspects of the labour legislation are promoting the growth of a dual labour market, whilst there seems to be some tightening up of practices aimed at bypassing aspects of the protection provided to workers.

In der Theorie wird argumentiert, daß eine Handelsliberalisierung über Exporte zu Effizienzgewinnen und technologischer Modernisierung bei der heimischen Industrie führt. Diese Hypothese wird am Beispiel von Daten der südafrikanischen Kfz-Ersatzteilindustrie getestet. Obwohl die Schlußfolgerungen nicht immer eindeutig sind, kommt der Autor zumindest im Hinblick auf diese Branche zu dem Ergebnis, daß es hier keine unzweideutige Unterstützung für die These gibt, daß Handelsliberalisierung auf Firmenniveau Innovation und Lernfähigkeit fördert. (DÜI-Hlb)

1. Taxation and gender equality : a conceptual framework / Caren Grown -- 2. Methodology and comparative analysis / Caren Grown and Hitomi Komatsu -- 3. Gender equality and taxation in Argentina / Corina Rodriguez Enriquez, Natalia Gherardi and Dario Rossignolo -- 4. Gender equality and taxation in India : an unequal burden? / Pinaki Chakraborty. [et al.] -- 5. Gender analysis of taxation in Mexico / Lucia C. Perez Fragoso and Francisco Cota Gonzalez -- 6. An investigation into the gender dimensions of taxation in Ghana / Ernest Aryeetey. [et al.] -- 7. Gender equality and taxation in Morocco / Ahmed el Bouazzaoui. [et al.] -- 8. Gender equality and taxation in South Africa / Debbie Budlender, Daniela Casale and Imraan Valodia -- 9. Gender equality and taxation in Uganda / Sarah Ssewanyana. [et al.] -- 10. Gender equality and taxation : a UK case study / Jerome de Henau, Susan Himmelweit and Cristina Santos -- 11. Conclusion and policy recommendations / Imraan Valodia.

In 2019, South Africa implemented a national minimum wage (NMW) for the first time. This is an important intervention, given that the South African labour market continues to generate some of the highest levels of income and wealth inequality in the world. The minimum wage is intended as a structural intervention to transform the labour market by setting a wage floor, while highlighting larger issues that continue to reproduce inequality in the labour market. The process raises interesting questions about the role of social dialogue in the policy making process, especially at a time when the roles of experts and evidence are contested in political economy. This article reviews the national minimum wage process from two angles: assessing the economic evidence and examining the political economy of minimum wages in South Africa. We take this approach in order to better understand the roles of evidence and politics in the policy making process. While both processes were contested, important differences emerge from the analysis: the economic lens highlights the intersection of evidence and ideology, while a political economy review identifies important lines of contestation in the policy making process itself. The national minimum wage process shows that institutionalised social dialogue continues to be a central part of the policy making process, but that it cannot be taken for granted: the particular configuration of the social dialogue process and the roles assigned to each player matter.