By Tokologo Lekoma
Women’s Month. A time where we’re supposed to remember 1956. When 20 000 women left their homes, marched to the Union Buildings, and stood in silence. Banding together was key to their fight against pass restrictions and a system that maintained women belonged at home. That stand was part of the momentum towards political freedom, but the reality is that 70 years later, millions of young South African women are desperate to escape poverty and the lack of choice associated with it.
Much of female entrepreneurship in South Africa is motivated by necessity. Millions of women are swallowed up by the nightmare of potentially living indefinitely in abject poverty. The rate of youth unemployment mid-2025 was a staggering 62.4%. The total unemployment among women was 36% as opposed to 31% for men. Which means survival is typically the source of that aspiration. With a system unwilling to shift, it often feels like swimming upstream to no rewarding end. There is a lack of formal jobs. Funding routes are blocked. Support from policymakers is weak.
It is true that young women today have power that was unavailable to previous generations, like having more educational opportunities, networks and exposure, and that digital affordances give them possibilities their mothers did not have. You can sell a product, create a brand, and mobilise an audience, all by using your phone. The 2023-2024 GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship in South Africa report says women have aspiration and drive. Yet, the existing infrastructures simply fail to recognise it when it arises. This begs the more fundamental question: if having power solely benefits you, what good does it serve the public?
I write this article as a 20-something Gen Z woman, a generation that has never missed a chance to take advantage of technology. For example, last year I started working my first ever job while completing my postgraduate education. Working said job opened a myriad of opportunities for me, including the ability to independently purchase a brand new laptop cash.
This has allowed me to join women-centered online communities such as book clubs, study groups and networking platforms. I’d even started posting more on social media in recent months. This rewarding experience has helped me slowly build relationships with new people with similar interests like makeup, music and reading.
Which got me thinking about the negative side effects of the “endless prospects” online. We’re subjected to narratives by those who make it in the online space that “hustling” is the mindset to embrace. That monetising our talents, passions and even our free time should be what we cannibalise to allow our aspirations to be made real. This is the double-edged sword of “self-enterprising”. We are pressured to always be “marketable” even in rest.
This environment favours women who already have the tools: stable internet, disposable income and strong networks to lean on, and can open doors to personal freedom and growth. With a growing trend in young women monetising their interests, multi-level marketing (MLMs) schemes like skincare brand NuSkin or wellness brand Herbal Life give these women leverage. This approach to business depends on building a “downline”. That is by recruiting other young women who are “like-minded” individuals to also sell and recruit. However, profits tend to flow to the top of the pyramid, while the majority struggle to create a sustainable income.
If we turn to the offline economy, more South African women than ever before are interested in starting their own businesses. But relatively few of them move past the idea stage, according to the GEM research. One of the main issues here is a fear of failure. And, when they do take the risk, their businesses often fail within three years.
It’s difficult not to aspire towards upward social mobility, when we are surrounded by success stories. Young women look up to the likes of Connie Ferguson who founded Ferguson Films with her late husband Shona and who gave us blockbusters like Kings of Joburg and The Queen. Or digital content creator and makeup masterclass startup founder, Mihlali Ndamase; or media personality Bonang Matheba, who founded the luxury beverage brand House of BNG. And many others who’ve shaped various industries, paving the way for young women to think bigger.
However, this constantly churning wheel of Keeping up with the Kardashians or some other public figures is bound to become exhausting. Young women are tired. Like their predecessors were. We champion the successes of feminism yet the system still expects women to carry, bend, and stretch while providing so little infrastructure in return.
That is the awkwardness of Women’s Month. Asking if self-enterprise is worthwhile simply is not enough. Worth it for whom? is the more pressing question that begs a response. Is it revolutionary enough for this nation if it only takes a small number of us to freedom while leaving the rest of us behind? It requires women whose influence takes individual potential and molds it into group power. If not, we’re merely telling the same story of survival, just a more glamourised version.
