Neglecting the ‘majority’: An overview of the economic plight of young females in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

Women remain vulnerable to structural and social marginalization in spite of advances made since Beijing 1995 which has seen more women mainstreamed into public  spaces. Although as a broad group, the marginalization of women is cross-cutting, the plight of girls and young women is often neglected in research and policy. The tendency has been to treat women as homogenous thus ignoring the nuances within. Specifically, the voices/needs of sub-groups such as adolescent girls and young women under 35 years have not been heard and well aggregated. This paper, through a desk-top review, seeks to fill this knowledge gap in the case of KwaZulu-Natal with a view to also making a policy contribution aimed at curbing the economic neglect of young females. This is profound considering they are the majority within the larger youth population, which constitute the majority age groups in the provincial and national populations.

Keywords: Girls, Young women, KwaZulu-Natal, Education, Unemployment