Editing Economy of Lesotho (section)

== Women in the economy ==
While women are more subject to access to secondary schooling than men, men make 1.5 times more income than women.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2016-01-22|title=Human Development Report 2015|journal=Human Development Report|doi=10.18356/ea1ef3b1-en|isbn=9789210576154|issn=2412-3129}}</ref> Prior to the 1950s, Basotho women migrated to South Africa for work due to an agricultural decline. Of those who migrated, many of them were unwed and many stayed in South Africa. Married couples also traveled to South Africa together for work. In 1923, the [[Pass laws|pass law]] Natives (Urban Areas) Act was passed in South Africa which required black men to carry passports with them at all times when in white areas for work. Women were included in an amendment to the law in 1952. The amendment caused a decline in migration of female labor, and by the 1970s, only 36.1% of women over age 39 in Lesotho had worked in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gay|first=Judith S.|date=2009-05-22|title=Basotho Women Migrants : a Case Study|journal=The IDS Bulletin|volume=11|issue=4|pages=19–28|doi=10.1111/j.1759-5436.1980.mp11004005.x|issn=0308-5872|url=http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/10763}}</ref> Lesotho women did not work in mines.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mueller|first=Martha|date=1977|title=Women and Men, Power and Powerlessness in Lesotho|journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=154–166|doi=10.1086/493448|s2cid=143515288 |issn=0097-9740}}</ref>

In the 1980s, Lesotho received aid to help with the manufacturing industry.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lundahl|first1=Mats|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781000243987|title=The Dependent Economy: Lesotho and the Southern African Customs Union|last2=Petersson|first2=Lennart|date=2019-06-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-30998-4|edition=1|language=en|doi=10.4324/9780429309984|s2cid=241841313 }}</ref> The main workers employed in the industry were young women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=TANGRI|first=ROGER|title=Foreign Business and Political Unrest in Lesotho|date=April 1993|journal=African Affairs|volume=92|issue=367|pages=223–238|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098611|issn=1468-2621}}</ref> In 1990, 92% of employees in the textile industry were women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=BAYLIES|first1=CAROLYN|last2=WRIGHT|first2=CAROLINE|title=Female Labour in the Textile and Clothing Industry of Lesotho|date=1993|journal=African Affairs|volume=92|issue=369|pages=577–591|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098666|issn=1468-2621}}</ref>

About 86% of the female population in Lesotho works in the textile industry.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tanga|first1=Pius Tangwe|last2=Tangwe|first2=Magdaline Nji|date=2014-01-02|title=Interplay between economic empowerment and sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry|journal=SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS|language=en|volume=11|issue=1|pages=187–201|doi=10.1080/17290376.2014.976250|pmid=25383704|pmc=4272096|issn=1729-0376|doi-access=free}}</ref>