Gender equality in poverty reduction strategies for sustainable development: The case of South African Local Government

Abstract

The aspect of gender equality is a vital element in the South African Constitution that now links the government's manifesto to the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), now form part of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under this imprint, South African local government is constantly looking for new approaches for solving socio-economic issues such as combating poverty and enhancing sustainable development. The purpose of this study was to obtain qualitative data from the respondents of three different categories of municipalities: Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (Category A: metropolitan municipality), Bojanala Platinum District Municipality (Category C: district municipality), and Ndlambe Local Municipality (Category B: local municipality). Three themes, namely stereotyping, gender discrimination and career path opportunities, emerged from the content analysis. Based on the findings, the study proposes a development assessment tool to identify capability gaps of local government and strategies to offer improvement.

Keywords: gender, gender equality, poverty reduction strategies, local government, millennium development goal, sustainable development