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Geography

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    A gender analysis of restaurant employee profiles and perceptions in South Africa.
    (2022) Mzolo , Sandile Padayachee.; Bob, Urmilla.
    The restaurant industry is highly variable and responsive to customer demands and changes. It is a major industry that contributes to economic development and job creation. There is increasing focus on restaurant employees with limited focus on gender aspects which include wage gaps, occupational segregation, advancement opportunities and working conditions that apply to the tourism and hospitality sector more generally. It is in this context that the study undertakes an analysis of restaurant employee profiles and perceptions in South Africa to better understand employee trends and practices from a gender perspective. Employee surveys were conducted at 402 restaurants in selected South African cities (Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg representing cities in South Africa with the largest number of restaurants and Pietermaritzburg and Polokwane representing cities with lower numbers of restaurants) as part of a National Department of Tourism funded study was subjected to a gendered analysis. In total, 1 869 surveys were completed at the 402 purposively selected restaurants. Some of the key findings are that restaurants in South Africa, as is the trend globally, employ a generally youthful and female population with close to a third being foreigners. A trend that is dissimilar to global patterns is that in South Africa most employees (irrespective of gender) in the restaurant industry work on a permanent rather than a casual or temporary basis although the wages received were relatively low with males on average earning more than females. Furthermore, almost all employees earn a salary with half of the respondents indicating tips as well. The results indicate the importance of the restaurant industry as an employer in South Africa. The relatively high turnover suggests areas of employee dissatisfaction which include low salaries as well as limited promotion opportunities, rewards and benefits. The main skills required in the restaurant industry identified by employees were emotional/ behavioral attributes, functional skills, and knowledge-based and physical skills, with the customer-centric orientation of the skills needed being evident. Very few gender differences were noted in relation to skills/ attributes needed for positions in the restaurant industry, which is contradictory to assertions in the literature. This suggests that gendered recruiting and occupational segregation are problematic since both males and females identify similar skills as being important. Key recommendations forwarded are to further examine employee vulnerabilities in the restaurant sector, especially in relation to specific gender issues such as harassment experienced which was not included in the survey used in this study. Future research should also look at perceptions of whether tips should be retained as a form of remuneration, gender influences when recruiting and promoting staff and job security issues. Training of staff in relation to dealing with customers as well as addressing concerns that lead to high staff turnover are also areas identified that need attention. More generally, there is a need to rethink training for the restaurant sector given that generally qualifications are not required. Finally, it is recommended that COVID-19 impacts be better understood and addressed.
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    Exploring the role of service delivery and its impact on the functionalities of women in Njane and Ntshaseni communities of the Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality (ULM) in KwaZulu-Natal.
    (2022) Ngubo, Wandile Noxolo.; Lottering, Romano Trent.; Sewell, Shenelle Janalyn.
    Service delivery in most South African rural areas is neither efficiently nor equitably distributed. This makes residents receive poor quality services which are often unavailable. Feminist geography is concerned, among other things, with how gender and geography determine the welfare of communities. This study looked at service delivery from a geographical dimension of rurality and remoteness and connected this to gender-based service perceptions. The first paper looked at service delivery ratings of men and women in two rural communities in the same municipality-the Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality (ULM) in KwaZulu-Natal. These communities are remote in terms of distance from major urban centres. The study utilised a quantitative research approach, with a sample of 200 residents from Njane and Ntshaseni. The study was designed as a comparative descriptive study. The first objective of the study was to assess men and women's ratings on the provision of such services as road, healthcare, education, water and sanitation, and electricity. The second objective was to compare the relationship between water and energy services delivery and women's domestic workload (WDW) in the two communities. The second paper used a sample of 127 and used a descriptive approach to analyse data on water and sanitation and electricity and used secondary data that was collected in previous studies on the two communities and analysed this on SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The research findings have revealed that women rate service delivery quality and availability very lowly compared to men. Women’s low ratings revealed that service delivery quality and availability affected them differently from men, with regards to healthcare, water and sanitation, and electricity services. The research findings have also revealed that women are heavily burdened by lack of water and electricity in Njane and Ntshaseni communities, leading to increased domestic workloads. The study recommends a nexus of geography and gender in dealing with service delivery challenges. Local governments need to provide gender-sensitive service delivery in remote communities. This approach would reduce geography and gender service delivery disparities, and relieve poor rural women from back-breaking domestic labour.