Empowered Women Empower Nations: Women’s Role in South Africa’s Plastics Sector - Plastic Reboot

This is the third in a series of articles from Plastic Reboot – South Africa, sharing insights and learnings that support and embed a circular economy approach.

By Dr Danica Marlin, Researcher: Plastics, the Environment and Gender, Plastic Reboot – South Africa

On 9 August this year, South Africa celebrated National Women’s Day. This day commemorated the 70th anniversary of the march of 20 000 women in 1956 to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, to protest the extension of pass laws to women. The pass laws were discriminatory legislation that restricted the movement of persons of colour during South Africa’s apartheid system.

In South Africa, the month of August is dedicated to the achievements of women over the years, including their contributions to socio-economic development. This year’s theme is “Empowered Women Empower Nations”.

This theme is closely aligned with a key aim of Plastic Reboot: to increase gender equality in decision-making and leadership related to the sustainable production and consumption of plastic. But empowering women in the plastics sector means more than creating opportunities for women to participate. It means recognising and valuing their expertise, ensuring that women can access economic and social benefits and decent jobs across the plastics value chain, and creating opportunities for them to rise to positions of authority and influence.

When women are able to participate fully, lead and influence decisions, the benefits extend beyond women themselves. Empowered women can help shape a plastics sector that is more inclusive, innovative, resilient and sustainable. This will strengthen businesses, communities, the environment and the wider economy.

From inception, Plastic Reboot – South Africa has integrated gender-responsive considerations into its planned activities. The idea is not simply to have more women working in the plastics value chain, but to reduce the barriers that prevent them from reaching their full potential in the sector. The ultimate aim is to ensure equal opportunities and benefits for both men and women. This is an important part of building a plastics economy that can respond to environmental, social and economic challenges.

Why Gender Matters

In South Africa, 51% of the population is female (Stats SA, 2026), yet women’s unemployment rate (36%) is consistently higher than that of men (31%). Also, fewer women are employed in managerial positions: just one in three managers are women (Stats SA, 2025). In addition, irrespective of the level of education obtained, women’s median earnings are about 80% of those of men. Earnings by gender are further influenced by education levels: women with less than primary school education earn only half of what men with the same level of education earn (Stats SA, 2024).

These socio-economic disparities show that South Africa has a long way to go before equality between women and men is achieved. When women face structural barriers to employment, leadership and economic opportunity, the country is not drawing fully on the skills, knowledge and potential of more than half its population.

Women’s Month raises awareness about these disparities, but it also provides an opportunity to consider how empowering women can contribute to stronger economic and social systems. The plastics sector is one such opportunity.

The existing societal stereotypes about women and men are reflected in the waste sector, and gender inequalities are apparent throughout the waste value chain (UNEP-IETC and GRID-Arendal, 2019). Globally, women are more likely than men to take responsibility for cleaning and waste activities at home and are thus the main users of household goods packaged in plastic (Global Plastic Action Partnership, 2021).

Women are disproportionately affected by plastic throughout its life cycle: depending on their involvement and because of their biology, they are more exposed to and affected by the harmful chemicals associated with plastic. They also have limited access to employment opportunities in the plastic waste sector, both formal and informal (Dixon et al., 2023).

Midstream businesses are characterised by large corporate retailers and wholesalers, as well as micro-enterprises such as neighbourhood tuck shops called “spaza shops”, fruit and vegetable sellers and informal prepared-food sellers. Women make up 64% of those employed as informal food sellers (HSRC, 2022). Employment in South Africa’s retail sector is highly feminised, but with limited representation of women in leadership roles (SABC, 2021). The micro- and informal food and beverage sectors are especially vulnerable to external policy shifts.

Women are already deeply connected to the plastics sector – as consumers, workers, waste pickers, business owners and community members. Yet their knowledge, experience and potential to shape the sector are not always recognised. Empowering women to have a greater voice in the sector can benefit them, the sector and the communities that depend on it.

From Participation to Leadership

In a forthcoming Plastic Reboot – South Africa publication, the South African team has undertaken a gender analysis of the plastics sector. This study was based on surveys and focus groups with men and women working in the food and beverage plastic-packaging sector in South Africa. The study found that there is a research gap about the role of women working in the plastics value chain, especially in the formal sector and the midstream value chain.

Gender issues in the plastics value chain were found to mirror those existing in South Africa today. Men are more likely to be employed, to own and run businesses, and to benefit from better returns in both the formal and informal sectors.

“The polymer industry comprises highly technical production companies that are dominated by male employees” (Netnou & Strydom, 2020: 60). In the formal plastics recycling industry, only two in ten (23%) employees are women (Plastics SA, 2022).

In the food and beverage plastic-packaging sector, four in ten employees (35%) are women and most businesses in the formal plastics value chain are owned by men (forthcoming Plastic Reboot – South Africa publication).

A similar trend exists in the informal waste sector: women represent just less than half of landfill waste pickers (48%), and only one in ten street waste pickers are women (13%) yet earnings vary significantly by gender (Schenck et al., 2016). Street waste picking is dominated by men because it is inherently more physically demanding through the pushing of heavy carts. It also carries more risks for women in the form of harassment and exposure to abuse.

Empowering Women to Transform the Plastics Sector

The expertise and knowledge of women in the waste sector are often overlooked. This is regrettable, since women play a vital role in a move towards more equitable, sustainable and efficient waste management.

Plastic Reboot – South Africa is seizing the opportunities that exist to identify where women can have increased representation in the plastics sector. The project seeks to encourage and empower businesses, the government and waste pickers themselves to consider gender equality, promote women’s employment and participation and, hopefully, reshape the sector to be a more equitable workplace for all.

But empowerment must go beyond participation to include representation and leadership. Women need opportunities to earn, own businesses, develop expertise, influence decisions and lead. When women are empowered to move from the margins of the plastics value chain into positions where they can shape its future, their impact can extend far beyond the workplace: they can enhance sustainable development and social and household well-being, among others.

This is the connection between the theme “Empowered Women Empower Nations” and the work of Plastic Reboot. A more gender-inclusive plastics sector can contribute to a more inclusive economy.

For Plastic Reboot, gender equality is therefore not an additional consideration; it is part of transforming the plastics sector to ensure sustainable development and a just transition. Empowering women to shape the future of plastics is one way of empowering the sector and, ultimately, the nation.