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Jane Ndlovu

Contact & links

[email protected]

University of Witwatersrand website

Jane Ndlovu's publications

Biography

Dr Jane Ndlovu is an Associate Professor and Chartered Accountant CA(SA) bridging Taxation, Constitutional Law, and Feminist Theory. Jane’s primary research investigates a hidden crisis in South Africa’s tax system, the “care penalty”, exploring how the denial of childcare tax relief impacts the 44% of households headed by female breadwinners, and how fiscal policy can protect emergency savings for women escaping domestic abuse. Beyond gender and taxation, Jane’s work spans informal sector taxation, AI in tax administration, just energy transitions, and Ubuntu in financial education, drawing on comparative analyses across African and Global North jurisdictions.

Jane’s research employs interdisciplinary, socio-legal, and comparative approaches to transform fiscal policy into an instrument for socio-economic justice.

Research

  • Fiscal/Tax Justice & Gender: The intersection of taxation, constitutional law, and feminist theory, specifically investigating the “care penalty” in tax legislation, childcare tax relief, and how fiscal policy can protect women’s emergency savings to combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

  • Taxation in Emerging Economies: Tax policy design in the Global South, informal sector taxation, and leveraging fiscal frameworks for socio-economic transformation.

  • Contemporary Fiscal/Tax Challenges: The tax implications of the Just Energy Transition, digitalisation and artificial intelligence in tax administration, and embedding indigenous philosophies (Ubuntu) into financial education.

Research methods and approaches

  • Interdisciplinary Socio-Legal Analysis: Bridging quantitative financial accounting with qualitative legal analysis and critical feminist legal theory.

  • Comparative Jurisdictional Analysis: Cross-country legal and policy comparisons across African nations (e.g., South Africa, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and Global North jurisdictions (e.g., UK, USA, Australia).

  • Policy-Oriented & Empirical Frameworks: Translating complex macroeconomic tax data and statutory provisions into actionable legal blueprints and policy interventions for civil society and government.

What are you looking for

I am seeking collaborators with expertise in econometrics, development economics, computational law, or data science to model micro-economic household datasets, refine policy frameworks, and drive joint cross-jurisdictional projects that translate research into real-world institutional impact.

  • Disciplinary Knowledge: Scholars or practitioners in Development Economics, Econometrics, Sociology, Public Health, Data Science, or Computational Law who are interested in gender equity, public finance, or governance in developing contexts.

  • Technical Skills & Methods: Expertise in advanced econometric modelling, big-data analytics (e.g., analysing large-scale administrative tax or household survey datasets), or qualitative field methodologies engaging vulnerable communities.

  • Access & Resources: Collaborators with access to national or regional micro-economic datasets, computational modeling platforms, or international policy-advocacy networks seeking to translate socio-legal research into tangible institutional change.

Research discipline: Social Sciences

Cohort year: 2025

Programme: Crucible Programme