Measuring the gender wealth gap in South Africa using individual‐level data

Despite widespread recognition that assets are important for economic wellbeing and women's empowerment, there is limited research on gender wealth gaps in either developed or developing countries. This is largely due to the lack of individual‐level data on wealth or net worth (i.e. the value of assets less debt). Most surveys that collect information on wealth do so at the household level with only one member responding on behalf of the household, even though most assets and debts are held by individuals. In this paper, we measure the gender wealth gap for South Africa using unique individual‐level data collected in the 2017 National Income Dynamics Survey, a representative household survey covering roughly 22,000 adults. We find that men and women hold different types of assets and debt and that there is a substantial gender gap in the monetary value of their net worth, greater than the gender earnings gap recorded in the same year. In our discussion, we reflect on some of the key challenges in measuring wealth as well as remaining gaps in data collection and research.