While conversations about the gender pay gap frequently focus on what women can do to advocate for fair pay, meaningful change also rests with us, as employers. Women’s Month is an opportunity to move beyond awareness and take tangible action to ensure that equal work receives equal reward. We have made some progress to parity, but nowhere near enough. 

Solving South Africa’s income security challenge requires more than encouraging individuals to save harder. This is simply unfeasible as shown by Old Mutual Corporate’s Two-Pot survey of 35 350 members who withdrew. Of these members, 45% said they were feeling under significant financial pressure and 34% reported withdrawing Two-Pot savings to meet basic living needs. How can we make small changes to help people make the most of the money they can afford to save?  

• South Africa ranks 33rd out of 148 economies in the 2025 index of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report. 
• Women earn R72.44 for every R100 earned by men for the same job, according to the National Business Initiative. 
• Stats SA found the unemployment rate for women stood at 37.5% in Q2 2026, compared with 30.3% for men, highlighting persistent gender disparities in South Africa’s labour market. 

At the current rate of progress, the WEF estimates it will take another 123 years to reach full global gender parity. 

Pay decisions impact generations, financially and psychologically. Think of a daughter watching her mother fight to be paid fairly. Think of countless women planning for retirement, knowing they'll have less than their male counterparts – not because they made different financial choices, but because they earned less throughout their careers. 

We are at a precipice where policy is demanding accelerated effort to change the status quo. As employers, we have the opportunity to lead the shift to an equitable work world for all – not just as a question of compliance or economics, but as one of fundamental fairness and integrity.   

Here, Lindiwe Sebesho, Managing Director of Remchannel and a leading voice on fair and equitable pay, suggests some fundamentals for employers to focus on to bridge the divide and create a more equitable environment for all.  

1. Conduct regular pay equity audits    

A structured audit process enables organisations to identify gaps, understand their root causes and implement corrective measures.  

Pay equity audits should not be treated as a once-off exercise. Regular reviews should look beyond averages to examine job level, grade, function, tenure, performance ratings, hiring pay, promotion practices and progression patterns across all demographics, with the explicit intent of identifying inequities and determining appropriate, evidence-based remediation actions. 

2. Build pay literacy and encourage fair pay conversations  

Employers can strengthen accountability by being clearer about salary frameworks, promotion criteria and remuneration policies while meeting regulatory requirements to disclose gender pay gap data, targets and progress. But transparency should go beyond disclosure. Leaders and employees should be trained to understand and confidently discuss how pay decisions are made, what legitimately influences pay, where bias can enter the system and how concerns can be raised and resolved fairly.

This also means interrogating the design of reward systems – reviewing grading structures, pay ranges, allowances, incentives and legacy practices to identify where historical decisions may still be reinforcing unequal outcomes.  

3. Create equitable opportunities for career progression  

The gender pay gap is often closely linked to opportunity gaps. Employers can make meaningful progress by removing barriers to advancement and ensuring that mentorship, sponsorship and leadership development are accessible, transparent and fairly allocated. Targeted support for women remains important where historic underrepresentation persists, but it should sit within a broader talent framework that enables all employees to progress based on capability, contribution and potential.

Inclusive succession planning, equal access to critical high paying roles and fair performance management systems also help ensure that high-performing employees are recognised and rewarded consistently. 

4. Embrace flexible and inclusive workplace policies  

Flexible work arrangements, hybrid working models and gender-neutral parental leave policies can help employees balance professional and personal responsibilities without compromising career growth and earning potential. These measures support talent retention and enable organisations to benefit from a broader and more diverse workforce.

Importantly, flexibility should be available to all employees. When caregiving support is normalised across genders, organisations help reduce the systemic factors that contribute to pay inequality. 

5. Strengthen pay governance and leadership accountability    

Defined decision rights, approval thresholds, governance forums and escalation routes help ensure that pay decisions are consistent, evidence-based and visible to senior leadership. Equally importantly, they create the discipline for leaders to consider the full context behind each decision and its consequences for pay equity outcomes for an individual, teams and the organisation. 

Training managers and leaders is a critical component and should cover unconscious bias, objective performance assessment the organisation's remuneration framework and the broader context and consequences of pay decisions.  Even well-intended decisions can widen inequities if they are made in isolation or without a clear view of their cumulative impact. 

A business imperative  

The policy environment is increasingly reinforcing the need for change. The amendments in S30A and B of the Companies Act and the introduction of South Africa's Fair Pay Bill signal a growing emphasis on remuneration transparency and accountability. For employers, the conversation has shifted from whether greater pay transparency is coming to how prepared they are to embrace it.

According to Stats SA, 32.3 million people in South Africa are female and 42% of households are female-headed. Imagine how the country could change if more women were included in the economy – and equitably rewarded for their contributions. 

Let’s close the gap by choosing fairness – not as a tick-box exercise or because it is the right thing to do, but because equitable pay is an economic imperative. When women are paid fairly for equal work, the benefits extend beyond the individual employee: retirement outcomes improve, households have greater capacity to build generational wealth, businesses unlock fuller productivity and talent, and the economy benefits from broader participation and spending power. It is also a powerful signal to our sons and daughters that their work, contribution and ambition will be recognised fairly.