The International Conference on Population Development Plan of Action (1994) established a global vision for human development and introduced a new era of thinking, planning and implementation of population development strategies for country-level implementation. South Africa’s Population Policy resonates with the global vision and provides a framework for all population development initiatives. Over the past decade, the Policy has provided impetus to the vision of a developmental state with a specific focus on the rights and development of women. Within this framework, great strides have been made towards empowerment of women, gender equality and equity. Sex-disaggregated data and gender-responsive analysis, however, continue to reflect imbalances and multiple barriers to the empowerment of women, gender equality and equity.