Addressing gender-based violence is an urgent economic imperative

Six years after the government declared gender-based violence a national emergency, the numbers remain stubbornly concerning. One in 10 women in South Africa has experienced sexual violence – and reporting remains chronically low.

Across various indicators, South Africa consistently features at the top of rape rates and composite danger scores, alongside the likes of Mexico, India, Iraq and Brazil.

With more than 132 rapes per 100,000 people, and one in four men admitting to committing rape, the numbers boggle the mind. Meanwhile, far from declining, intimate partner violence has increased in recent years.

The economic ramifications of this crisis are real. Often described as a public health and social crisis, addressing gender-based violence (GBV) must move beyond social workers and non-profit organisations. Evidence suggests GBV directly hollows out our economy, stripping women of opportunities and eroding growth.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest share of girls abused before the age of 18. In Johannesburg, widely regarded as the commercial capital of the continent and which employs at least 30% of the national workforce, 30% of young girls have experienced sexual violence, according to a recent audit. These numbers typically increase with age. GBV and unemployment are increasingly intertwined, fuelling a vicious cycle.

Economic impact

The costs and impact on economic productivity are obvious. GBV survivors suffer injury, higher HIV risk, depression, anxiety, substance misuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, undermining basic consistency and productivity at work.

Time off to recover, to navigate police and court procedures, or to manage pregnancies and chronic illness starts with days and weeks, but often can take years to resolve. For hourly and wage workers, each day off is lost income. For salaried workers, it can mean missed promotions, reputational damage, or outright dismissal when employers refuse unpaid leave or lack supportive policies.

These individual consequences aggregate into staggering economic costs. One estimate places the social cost of a single sexual assault in South Africa at roughly close to R1-million. More than half the costs of sexual violence stem from lost work productivity. Productivity losses frequently exceed R30,000 per incident.

The economic cost of GBV is estimated at between R28-billion to R42-billion a year. In terms of sheer economic growth, GBV has reduced growth by up to 2.6% annually in countries with similar HIV prevalence to ours.

Another estimate has put the cost of GBV at around 1% of South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product. That number excludes intangible costs such as pain and suffering, which can balloon the total by at least 50%.

And the economic impact does not stop with the individual survivor. Employers lose productivity, businesses lose revenue and governments lose tax revenues.

The knock-on consequences or multiplier loss tend to ripple across the entire economy, neutralising gains from education, health and social investment. With a direct impact on growth, competitiveness, and national welfare, GBV is not simply a social justice issue – it is an economic development emergency.

When education is not enough

South African women are, on average, more educated than men. Women in South Africa consistently outperform their male counterparts in both secondary and tertiary education. Yet women remain more likely to be unemployed. Female unemployment hovers above 35%, compared with around 31% for men.

This paradox of higher qualifications but lower employment cannot be explained by female domestic roles alone. Data shows that homemaking only explains 6%-11% of reported inactivity among women and does not fully explain the gender discrepancy in labour force participation.

The missing link lies in violence.

Research shows that sexual violence often forces victims off their original career paths, leading to major changes in their lives. Traditional economic theories about work and leisure ignore the emotional and psychological realities that shape women’s decisions about joining or staying in the workforce.

Studies suggest that women’s choices in the labour market are especially influenced by economic pressures, social expectations and demographic factors.

Women report feeling “highly unsafe” at much higher rates than men, especially in urban townships where pedestrian transit to work, school, or even toilets exposes them to risk. These risks create barriers not only to work, but also to accessing education, healthcare and other services.

The result is a cycle where women’s labour force participation is curtailed not by lack of will or ability, but by fear and coercion.

Such coercion or “male backlash” is a central mechanism of GBV in South Africa, where men employ violence in response to women’s economic independence as a means to protect their own sense of traditional masculinity.

In countries like South Africa, education and income do not protect women and female-headed households. Instead, they may paradoxically increase exposure to violence.

This cycle and circumstances simply must be broken if South Africa is to break through this inhibitor of economic growth and competitiveness.

Women make up 51% of South Africa’s population and head 43% of households. But their full potential and contribution to the economy are systemically undermined by violence.

For South Africa to break out of its low-growth, high-unemployment trap, addressing the scourge of sexual violence is an economic imperative. This cannot be separated from social realities. GBV must be part of economic planning.

Stakeholders in government and business need to recognise GBV as an economic loss equal in weight to load-shedding or poor infrastructure. Women need access to safe, stable and well-paid employment to build options and opportunities.

We must ensure they can live and work free from violence. Anything less is not only a moral failure, but an economic one. DM

Annabel Dennison is an intern at The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

Prof Lyal White is a faculty member at GIBS.