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.
Crime
Describe
In South Africa, the crime rate is extremely high. There is several crimes which create an effect on SAs lives, for example gun crimes is an extreme cause of many SAs deaths as many people find that the authorities do very little to prevent these crimes from happening as they are not funded enough to be able to help all the crimes within SA, so they decide to put it into their own hands to seek justice.
Crime
Example
For example, in 2022, it was reported on average that 23 people are killed with guns in South Africa each day, (that is up from 18 people six years ago (2016)).
Crime
Analysis
This shows that it is extremely easy for people to get guns within SA, creating a hostile and extremely dangerous environment for people to live in. Due to the increase in gangs found in the rural and urban areas of SA, many innocent SAs’ lives are lost by being caught in the crossfire between the several gangs.
Crime - for black SA
Describe
Black South Africans have been shown to not only be the victims of more crimes but also are more likely to be imprisoned for crimes more often. This is because they are more likely to be experiencing poverty as well as a lack of education. Therefore, they can be more likely to join criminal gangs or gain an income from crime. There is a long history of police brutality towards black south africans which has caused an increase in community honour killings due to the lack of police presence and funding.
Crime - for black SA
Example
For example, Black South Africans take up a huge population in prison at 50% compared to other racial groups. (It was also found that between 2022 and 2023, 3934 black women were murdered.)
Crime - for black SA
Analysis
This shows that black South Africans are more likely to find themselves in prison as they often take matters into their own hands as the police often do not respond to the many crimes affecting the black women and children, resulting in black SAs committing crimes to the perpetrator of the crimes to their community.
Crime
Link back
This means that social inequalities are to the full extent an extreme concern within SA as anyone can be caught in the crossfire of a gun war between gangs or just everyday violence. This means that due to the lack of funding for the law enforcement, the people of SA believe that they can commit any crimes they want and won’t be held accountable as the police do not have the resources to prevent all of them and hold them accountable.
Conclusion
