Publication: IOL- Business Report
Author: Aditi Lachman
Photography: YES
When designing youth employment programmes, companies often focus on the obvious barriers: skills gaps, lack of experience, or geographical constraints. But for young women, particularly women of colour, the challenges run far deeper.
Research from the Human Sciences Research Council reveals that young black women face South Africa’s highest unemployment rates, with black African women experiencing unemployment rates 4.2% higher than the national average at 42.4%. This group of women exists at the intersection of gender, race and class, creating a complex web of exclusion that requires us to think systemically rather than symptomatically.
The barriers start with unconscious biases about which jobs and environments are “suitable”, or not, for women. I experienced this firsthand as a young civil engineer when my manager consistently denied me construction site experience, citing safety concerns that were never raised for my male colleagues. This well-intentioned protectiveness unintentionally hindered my career development.
Today, we see similar patterns across youth programmes – from assumptions about women’s technical capabilities to concerns about their mobility and safety that limit opportunities rather than create supportive pathways.
Digital barriers compound these challenges. According to the International Telecommunications Union, globally women are less likely to have access to the internet than men are – and these numbers are significantly higher in developing countries. This digital divide directly impacts employment opportunities in an increasingly connected economy.
Safety concerns are also an issue, affecting everything from transport to workplace environments, influencing not just whether women can access opportunities, but whether they feel secure enough to thrive in them.
The solution isn’t just about achieving gender parity in programme enrolment. It’s about designing programmes with an ecosystem mindset that acknowledges how solving one barrier might inadvertently create another. Truly inclusive design means placing the end user at the centre of programme development and designing with them, not just for them.
This approach recognises that younger generations bring more of themselves into the workplace than their predecessors. For instance, they can’t simply compartmentalise their socio-economic struggles, their caregiving responsibilities, or their need for psychological safety as previous generations might have done.
When we launched Mindful Matters at YES, we understood that helping young people cope with unemployment trauma was essential for sustainable employment success. For women, this includes navigating confidence gaps, standing up for themselves in male-dominated environments, and managing the mental load that many global research studies confirm women still carry disproportionately when it comes to domestic responsibilities.
The physical barriers require creative solutions. For example, when I was working in the diversity and inclusion space, we integrated childcare into entrepreneurial workspaces, recognising that proximity to children wasn’t a distraction but a necessity for many women entrepreneurs.
The innovation wasn’t in the childcare itself. It was in shifting the mindset from viewing women as employees with complications, to understanding them as people with multifaceted lives that organisations need to accommodate.
But perhaps the most critical element is addressing the invisible barriers: the social expectations that women should balance career ambitions with domestic responsibilities without complaint, the confidence gaps that stem from systemic exclusion, and the cultural programming that makes women reluctant to be disliked, even when standing up for necessary change.
ut perhaps the most critical element is addressing the invisible barriers: the social expectations that women should balance career ambitions with domestic responsibilities without complaint, the confidence gaps that stem from systemic exclusion, and the cultural programming that makes women reluctant to be disliked, even when standing up for necessary change.
Young women must play an active role in designing these programmes, but this requires creating environments where they feel safe to share their experiences and challenge existing structures. Too often, we place the burden of representation on a single woman in a room, expecting her to speak for all women while navigating the pressure of not being seen as “difficult” or “emotional”.
When it comes to measuring success, we need to look beyond headcount metrics. Drop-out rates tell us as much as enrolment numbers and when women consistently leave programmes early, we need to understand why. Is it transport costs? Safety concerns? Lack of childcare? Workplace cultures that don’t accommodate their needs? These patterns reveal where programme design often fails.
The most promising approaches I’ve observed, like the YES Pizza Hut’s women-only LeadHERship initiative, demonstrate what’s possible when organisations design intentionally for women’s experiences. But we can’t rely on exceptional programmes. We need systemic change across all sectors.
This is where organisations like YES play a crucial enabling role. Rather than mandating one-size-fits-all solutions, we showcase best practices, facilitate learning between corporate partners, and develop ranking systems that hold programmes accountable for genuine inclusion, not just numerical representation.
Critically, men must be active participants in this conversation. Women’s economic empowerment isn’t just a women’s issue – it’s an economic and social imperative that requires input from everyone at the table. When we exclude half the population from meaningful economic participation, we all lose.
The path forward isn’t about creating separate programmes for women – it’s about designing all youth employment programmes with the understanding that true inclusion requires intentional effort, systemic thinking, and the courage to challenge long-held assumptions about how work works.
Aditi Lachman, Head of Youth Programmes at Youth Employment Service (YES)
*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.
BUSINESS REPORT