Free women, free the economy (Mpiyakhe Dhlamini) South Africa

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FREE MARKET FOUNDATION

Free women, free the economy 09 May 2019 Mpiyakhe Dhlamini In South Africa it is well known that women suffer the brunt of our many socio-economic issues. This is largely how females are viewed across South African culture, rather than as a matter of law. According to the Economic Freedom of the World index, South Africa scores 1.0, the highest possible score, according to the gender adjustment variable. This variable measures the extent to which women are treated relative to men under the law. Not surprisingly, the bulk of countries that score poorly are in the Middle East. South Africa has full constitutionallyenshrined equality between men and women. A good thing too, since this is the second most important variable after low inflation for those countries that want to boost their economic growth. The last point comes from a regression analysis done of all 43 Economic Freedom of the World variables in order to ascertain the impact on GDP per capita growth in a year. It was found that the difference between the most gender unequal countries and the most equal could be as much as 0.48 percentage points in terms of GDP per capita growth. This is hardly surprising. Putting up arbitrary restrictions on half of your economically active population is not a good idea. Arab countries that restrict women’s rights to work and trade are learning this lesson the hard way. In South Africa, official government policy may not discriminate against women and that should continue being the case. But we still have a problem with how women are viewed socially. This is not really a matter for government policy, but families in particular should strive to free girls and women from the burdens of patriarchal expectations. Girls can do anything they put their minds to, just like boys can. It is harder to measure the impact of culture on aggregate economic variables like GDP, but the same logic that explains the impact of oppressive (against women) laws on the economy, should still hold when discussing oppressive cultures. It is simply not a good idea to stop someone participating in the economy based on something other than that individual’s competence, which is something only a free market can determine. 1


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Free women, free the economy (Mpiyakhe Dhlamini) South Africa by John A. Shanahan - Issuu