THIS WOMEN’S MONTH, ONE STORY MAY STILL GO UNTOLD: THE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN WITH DISABILITY SEARCHING FOR WORK
- BEE NEWS
- Aug 8
- 4 min read
LnT Desk | 7 August 2025
As South Africa celebrates Women’s Month with tributes to powerful trailblazers, entrepreneurs, and leaders, one story continues to be left out — that of the South African woman with disability who is still knocking on doors that remain closed.
Every morning, 27-year-old Lungi Mkwani from Kagiso near Krugersdorp wakes up and applies for jobs. She has a qualification in Public Relations (N4) and call centre training, along with experience in business and office administration but she also lives with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bones), and that’s where the struggle begins.
“Living with a disability as a woman in South Africa is challenging. Most of our cries are rarely heard,” said Mkwani.
Despite volunteering at her local police station from 2022 to 2023, she was turned down for permanent employment. “They used my disability as an excuse not to employ me,” she said. “We’re always told, ‘We encourage persons with disabilities to apply,’ but the follow-through never happens.”
“Most people with disabilities are only employed through organisations or short-term learnerships, often with age restrictions. The biggest challenge is that these opportunities only last 12 months and often exclude people older than 28, and not all buildings or facilities are accessible — some have stairs, others don’t accommodate people who are blind or deaf, or those with writing challenges,” she added.
Lana Roy, Programme Lead of 360: Disability Inclusion at Afrika Tikkun, said women with disabilities are frequently disregarded due to both their gender and their disability.
“There are few opportunities for advancement, and when they do get jobs, they are rarely given leadership-oriented positions. Access and safety at work are also major issues, particularly when it comes to using public restrooms, transportation, or being taken seriously in settings where men predominate,” she explained. “Women with disabilities are often more vulnerable to discrimination, exploitation, and even gender based violence, not because of their impairments, but because of how society is structured and responds to their impairments.”
Roy leads Afrika Tikkun’s disability inclusion work, which supports over 1,200 children and youth with various disabilities across South Africa. “We don’t just support individuals, we work with their families and communities. Our programmes span from early childhood to vocational skills, job placements and advocacy.”
But systemic change is still urgently needed.
Roy says the problem also lies in how policy is applied.
“From a policy side, there needs to be stronger enforcement of inclusive hiring practices, not just compliance on paper. Companies should stop seeing inclusion as a favour and start seeing it as a responsibility, creating spaces where women with disabilities don’t feel like outsiders. And in society, we need to challenge the harmful belief that disability equals incapability, that mind-set alone blocks a lot of potential,” she explained.
Roy added that companies often offer learnerships to people with disabilities, primarily to gain BBBEE points.
The voice of people with disabilities themselves is also often missing.
“We often speak about them, not with them. We need to prioritise lived experiences and stop assuming we know what they need. Remember “Nothing for us, without us”. Their voices are often excluded, their needs overlooked, and in many cases, they are seen as either incapable or invisible,” Roy said. “This leaves them with fewer opportunities and less protection in both formal and informal workspaces. We bring our ecosystem partners together to drive meaningful change in the communities that we work.
Afrika Tikkun’s disability inclusion team works to ensure that children and youth with disabilities are fully included in the organisation’s cradle-to-career programmes.
A team of administrators, social workers, therapists and nursing staff provide “a myriad of interventions” to help beneficiaries participate and engage more meaningfully.
Young people with disabilities are included in support groups, health and fitness activities, dancing and acting sessions held on Saturdays. After-school offerings include learnerships, work experience, work placements, and specialised training in areas such as hospitality, farming, and vocational skills.
“We run weekly support groups and various events throughout the year, the biggest being the Disability Pageant,” Roy said.
Beyond direct support, Afrika Tikkun plays an active role in advocacy and thought leadership. “We work closely with the Department of Education and Gauteng Provincial Government. We have MOUs in place and are one of the few NPOs that work so closely with these departments to drive meaningful change for persons with disabilities,” Roy said.
Next month, Afrika Tikkun will host the Valuable 500 Summit, bringing together corporates, government, and civil society to address leadership, representation and reporting of people with disabilities in the workplace.
“It’s about job creation for people with disability especially young women who are ostracized even more in the workplace as men as they are seen as vulnerable and too emotional. We need to understand the real issues facing our youth with disability and need to come up with real, practical solutions to try and solve this problem especially with youth unemployment so high and even higher amongst people with disability.”
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