SA Inequalities Essay Flashcards
What group is most affected?
Introduction
The world power I have studied is South Africa. Whilst there are many inequalities, it can be said that black South Africans are disportionately affected by these areas.
Education
Describe
During the apartheid, black education was extremely under-funded and restricted to ensure that blacks could only learn the skills necessary to work in low-paid low-level jobs working for whites. This contributed to the notion that white south africans were superior. Since the Apartheid there has been a lack of teachers coming into these schools as there are not enough Black SAs gaining the right qualifications to become a teacher in these schools.
Education
Example
For example, South Africa needs at least 25,000 new teachers each year, but only 6,000 teachers are trained annually.
Education
Analysis
This means that there is a lack of teachers becoming qualified to teach which can affect the quality of teaching that the school children receive as there are not enough teachers to equivalent to the amount of children within these schools, meaning that there isn’t a good quality of teaching available.
Education - for black SA
Describe
To try and create more opportunities for black people, aims were created which introduced 10 years of compulsory education and created a culture of learning academic skills. However, black people still faced significant barriers to their education. Education is not free in South Africa and school fees are paid for by parents. This explains why many children from poorer communities do not stay on at school, and why some cannot access school in the first place.
Education - for black SA
Example
For example, in 2021, 27% of students who have attended school for 6 years cannot read. Only 37% of children starting school go on to pass the matriculation exam and just 4% earn a degree.
Education - for black SA
Analysis
This shows how attempts by the South Africa government to reduce education inequalities can make very little difference as there are additional barriers to blacks receiving a high quality education, such as poverty, which still significantly impacts blacks more than whites.
Education
Link back
This means that social inequalities in SA exist to an extent as the black SA face more social inequalities than the white SAs. This is shown as the different education system does not allow black SAs to succeed and does not teach them the necessary skills to help them become employed in better paid jobs, as the white SAs schools do teach them the necessary skills to succeed in their future employment pathways.
Health
Describe
In South Africa, during the Apartheid, very little money was being invested in the public health sector. From the lack of money being invested into healthcare, there weren’t many hospitals within the rural areas of SA, which made it very difficult for those living in these areas to receive treatment. However, after the Apartheid, Mandela invested more money into healthcare for urban and rural areas, and created a single nation healthcare department in hopes of being able to treat more people than they previously could. However, due to the previous lack of attention to healthcare, South Africa has the biggest HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world.
Health
Example
For example, in 2019, 7.5m people are living with HIV within South Africa.
Health
Analysis
This shows that due to the lack of money going into the healthcare system within South Africa, the severe outcome that came from this was that many SAs resulted in contracting HIV/AIDS as they couldn’t get the correct treatment before contracting the disease, and were faced with having to live with the disease until it kills them.
Health - for black SA
Describe
The black SAs still have limitations in regards to health as the upgraded healthcare still isn’t as effective as the private healthcare that white SAs have the access to. Black SAs cannot afford private healthcare as they are more affected by poverty and therefore cannot pay the fees required to enable you to receive private healthcare.
Health - for black SA
Example
For example, in 2012, a study using a nationally representative dataset showed that a white South African has a significantly higher likelihood of being a medical scheme member and that blacks are disproportionately less represented as scheme members.
Health - for black SA
Analysis
This shows that due to the increased cost of private healthcare which has reportedly been advised as the better healthcare option, isn’t available for black SAs who are at most risk of catching HIV/AIDS due to finding themselves in poverty and with poor housing conditions which is one of the leading causes for black SAs contracting HIV/AIDS. This means that the money spent on the private healthcare system has been wasted on people who aren’t constantly in need of medical attention.
Health
Link Back
This means that social inequalities exist to a certain extent as health inequalities mostly affect black SAs as due to the social injustices they suffer by living in poverty, they cannot afford to pay for the services provided by the private healthcare and therefore have to succumb to the diseases they had caught from the health inequalities.
