Insufficient data accounting for gender-based discrimination in public and private sector enterprises in South Africa, coupled with a failure to understand employee perceptions of gender-based discrimination and employee functioning, perpetuate the gender inequality in the workplace. According to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), women are severely underrepresented in the workforce. Statistical data presented in the report for the period 2013-2017 reveal that women represent only 20.7% at management level in the private business sector and 30.8% in public sector organizations (Human Rights Commission, 2017, p . 15). plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Further research claims that between 2016 and 2017 men made up 73.3% of the private sector, in local government sectors even more so at 76.3% and 62.6% in national government sectors ( Human Rights Commission, 2017, p. 15). Gender-based discrimination has been at the center of equality conversations across economic and educational sectors globally, in an effort to eradicate the institutional pillars that support inequality and perpetuate the indirect and direct discrimination that women face on a daily basis in the workplace. workplace. “Indirect discrimination refers to policies and practices that do not explicitly discriminate on the basis of prohibited grounds, but which nevertheless have a discriminatory effect on particular groups or individuals” (van der Walt, le Roux, & Govindjee, 2012). South African legislation prohibits any form of discrimination as described in the Employment Equity Act (EEA), according to which "no person shall discriminate unfairly, directly or indirectly, against an employee, in any employment policy or practice, on one or more of the grounds including race, race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility…” (van der Walt, le Roux and Govindjee, 2012). Previous data collected on gender equality in the South African workplace found that, on average , women made up only around 12% of senior and management levels in the private sector (South African Human Rights Commission Equality Report, 2012). This was especially observed in the mining and technical industries (Equality Report (South African Human Rights Commission, 2012). Mental health at work has been shown to be significantly related to productivity and other desired organizational outcomes such as engagement and satisfaction. In particular, many studies have found a close link between mental health and job satisfaction. Although there have been some companies that have presented various methods and measures aimed at promoting gender equality such as “leadership training programs, mentoring and coaching, and compensation as measures”, the SAHRC has found no evidence to support these efforts effectively implemented and effective (South African Human Rights Commission Equality Report, 2012, p. 27). This study presents a research opportunity to explore different perceptions of gender-based discrimination among managers and employees regarding perceptions of gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Existing research has shown some shortcomings and gaps in the information available on this topic. The importance of this research is highlighted by previous research as there appears to be a lack of in-depth exploration and analysis of gender-based discrimination, including various perceptions of help from employees and management (Steyn,, 2016)