Challenging the status quo is crucial for equality in the workplace
In a recent survey conducted by the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa (BWA), it was found that only 4.4% of women in corporate South Africa hold the position of chief executive or managing director in a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company. Only 5.3% of chairpersons in listed companies are women.
Ndivhuwo Manyonga, deputy CEO of Aon Hewitt, says that one of the reasons for the lack of female representation could be the talent pool from which CEOs are selected. “These appointments tend to be chosen from those who are already operating as CFOs and COOs, while women in executive positions tend to be in marketing, HR or stakeholder engagement roles. Consequently, they may not be in the running for CEO roles.
“If one of the problems is that there are not enough women represented in the pool from which CEOs and executives are drawn, then we need to start looking at the root cause of the problem, all the way to tertiary and school level, to determine why women are not choosing subjects that would enable them to take on such a profession.”
She says research by McKinsey has also shown that having more women in senior positions tends to have a positive influence on a company's bottom line. “Intuitively, it does make sense that more diversity in top management, can only be a positive factor in the company’s performance.”
“While we do need to make strides forward to encourage more women into key industries, these results should also be looked at in context. The fact is that women often take career breaks in order to raise children, which may have a detrimental effect on their career progression, especially into senior roles within organisations. This is especially true for those organisations that have not been able to accommodate promising women, who make such decisions, into their succession planning.
“It is a reality that some women will face the issue of wanting to raise a family while still being productive in the workplace, and the challenge for companies is to show how they are willing to create workable solutions for women, which will ultimately be beneficial for the company as well.”
Manyonga says that if organisations, such as the BWA, continue to place pressure on companies, we could have a constructive debate as to what should be done to rectify the situation. “At a corporate level, there has to be a belief that having women in these executive positions is fundamentally good for the company as well. Studies which provide empirical evidence to support this should be well publicised. Shareholders, boards and senior management should also be driving this change, assisted by social and ethics committees, transformation committees and HR.”
“Employment should be based on the quality of the individual but the statistics from the BWA study show that we do have some way to go to ensure appropriate representation of women across all levels of corporate South Africa. More corporates need to embrace and address the challenge of attracting and retaining women to ensure greater diversity in the working environment,” Manyonga concludes.
