South Africa’s widening employment divide for young women could begin much earlier than the workplace, with inadequate school infrastructure contributing to girls becoming disengaged from education.
Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the second quarter of 2026 shows young women remain more likely than young men to be outside employment, education or training.
Among young women aged 15 to 24, 38.2% were not in employment, education or training (NEET), compared with 34.6% of young men.
While the female NEET rate declined from 39.2% in the first quarter of 2026, it increased by 1.6 percentage points compared with the second quarter of 2025.
Across the country, approximately 10.4 million young people were aged between 15 and 24 in the second quarter, with 36.4% classified as NEET. This was 1.2 percentage points higher than during the same period in 2025.
The number of unemployed South Africans also increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million.
Talita Boodhram, Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer of MiDesk Global, says the figures highlight a gender divide that can begin during childhood.
“The reality of young women not being able to find work now, begins with them as girls being marginalised from an early age. For example, a menstruating 12-year-old girl sitting on the floor in class becomes a 23-year-old woman with no job,” Boodhram said.
She says girls in disadvantaged communities can face several overlapping barriers, including inadequate classroom infrastructure, a lack of sanitary products and financial pressures at home.
For pupils without desks and chairs, having to work from classroom floors can create additional difficulties for girls who are menstruating.
“Because they often sit cross-legged to do their work, their dresses or skirts naturally ride up and they may feel exposed. If menstruating, they may be experiencing cramps and perhaps they don’t have a private bag to keep a spare pad in,” Boodhram said.
Girls can also lose school days when families cannot afford sanitary products, while financial pressures can result in girls being withdrawn from school before their brothers.
Boodhram says repeated disruptions can eventually affect educational performance and engagement.
“Children who lose track of the syllabus for any reason slowly become disengaged and by the time they’re counted in a Stats SA survey, they’re already a NEET statistic.”
MiDesk Global believes addressing basic educational infrastructure is one way of strengthening the pathway between schooling and future employment.
The South African NGO designs and distributes portable, solar-powered desk-and-chair solutions for children in under-resourced schools and communities.
“If we can provide all children with their own desk and chair it will pay dividends in terms of them having their own space to store the items necessary to be engaged pupils,” Boodhram said.
“If they have a chair to sit on, a dignified place to learn, they have a chance to focus fully on their schoolwork.”
Girls currently account for 51% of MiDesk beneficiaries.
According to figures cited by the organisation from the Department of Basic Education, 2.4 million children in South Africa lack access to desks in their schools.
MiDesk Global was founded by Boodhram when she was 16 and has received the CSI Legacy Award for Best Rising NGO. It was also selected for the Mastercard Foundation and University of Toronto’s African Impact Initiative.
Its work supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals relating to quality education, gender equality, and decent work and economic growth.
Boodhram believes interventions aimed at improving young women’s employment prospects need to begin before they reach working age.
“Fixing the earliest fixable link in the chain, not the last one,” she said.
