South Africa: Business women benchmark progress

Little has changed in projections of the progress of business women according to Kunyalala Maphisa, the president of the Business Women’s Association of South Africa (BWASA). In 2010, the association projected a 50% increase on the representation of women at executive manager level by 2050.

According to the 2011 report, progress has slowed at board level and achieving parity in 2031 will not be possible. Instead, trends indicate that could be possible by in 2039.

The foreword by Maphisa makes reference to the SADC Gender Protocol targets as a benchmark. She comments: “A radical mindshift. That is what we need in South Africa is to shift gear from the slow, incremental changes in the numbers of women at executive levels to a dramatic increase in the way we perceive, promote and protect women in corporate South Africa. And it needs government, business and civil society to act as one to achieve at least 50% representation by 2015.”

The report states that while women make up 43.9-% of the workforce, they constitute only 21.4% of all executive managers and only 17.1 % of all directors in South Africa.

Less than 10% of South Africa CEOs and chairpersons (9.7%) are women. Can we continue to believe that we can change this without incentives? Where success has been measured, it has come in the wake of legislated shifts. Already, Europe is implementing quotas to ensure greater compliance.

Earlier this year, British Prime Minister David Cameroon warned businesses in the UK that they needed urgently to increase women’s representation at executive level or face the possibility of quotas.. Its time South Africa adopted a similar approach. We have seen from BEE legislation that for any transformation to happen, regulation is necessary. The BWA is only one of many organisations which should hold corporate South Africa to account. Each year, this census allows us to measure progress. Yet, increasingly, rather than confront their shortcomings, companies are opting to avoid scrutiny

This unacceptably slow progress will persist unless the South African government lives up to its commitments made in the SADC Gender Protocol. These commitments include putting in place affirmative action measures to ensure 50% decision-making representation in the public and private sectors by 2015.

The report states that while women make up 43.9% of the workforce, they constitute only 21.4% of all executive managers and only 17.1% of all directors in South Africa. Fewer than 10% of South Africa CEOs and chairpersons (9.7%) are women.

It cannot be business as usual. If we are to change the landscape of business in South Africa – and truly draw on all of South Africa human resources – then we need to change the way we think and conduct our business.

The BWASA census, launched in 2004, is the foremost annual research into the status of women in corporate South Africa. Premised on the notion that “what gets measured gets done”, the BWASA census provides a continuing, comprehensive analysis of women in leadership and measures South Africa’s performance towards gender equality and equity in the economy. It tracks implementation and compliance.

Companies listed on the JSE and their subsidiaries control, together with state owned enterprises, (SOEs) at least 90% of the South African economy. The census represents an actual head count of women in leadership positions: executive managers, directors, CEOs and chairpersons in all companies listed on the JSE, their subsidiaries and SOEs.

South Africa signed the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development in 2008 and ratified it in 2011. Since signing, BWASA has pursued the SADC Gender Protocol targets to benchmark and advance transformation of the economic sphere and economic decision making and ensure increased participation and influence of women.

The SADC Gender Protocol also provides for the empowerment of women to enable them to play a positive role in bringing about social justice in South Africa and improving the lives of the most disadvantaged and dispossessed in society.

Article 5 provides for affirmative action measures be achieved through constitutional and legislative provisions. South Africa has drafted a Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill, which will greatly enhance the private sector.

The protocol which calls for state parties to ensure that all legislative and other measures are accompanied by public awareness campaigns which demonstrate the vital link between the equal representation and participation of women and men in decision making positions, democracy, good governance and citizen participation.

The BWASA census has played a significant role in creating awareness of the state of women leadership in the institutions, state owned and public, driving the South African economy.

Eight years on, BWASA, a network of individual and organisational members, has refined the census and has defined a programme that tackles two fundamental pillars for which the organisation stands:

• To provide a platform for promoting advocacy improving the participation of women in the economy;
• To provide a service to members that enables them to leverage off development support that better enables them to participate effectively in economic transformation.

The process involves:

• The BWA Women in Leadership Census Commission – which entails the production of the Census Report;
• BWA Women in Leadership Census Launch. The launch of the Census Report to the public through a media event to ensure the issue remains on the government’s agenda, the business agenda and in the public domain;
• BWA Women in Leadership Census Dialogues. This entails conversations with various stakeholders including the JSE, companies, the Commission for Gender Equality, government departments and other organisations;
• BWA Women in Leadership Executive Development. This entails various training courses for women and the development of databases of qualified women from which companies can draw from for leadership positions; and
• The development of legal opinions for discussion of affirmative-action measures to ensure 50-50 representation.  The census has grown in stature and support. The census publication is now an annual entry on the South African business community’s calendars with companies actively participating in the process.

Companies are approached to verify the results to ensure the accuracy of the results. The verification rate has increased with each year which is an indication that companies are willing participants in the process. The census presents the worst performing and the best performing companies each year.

Some of the ways in which the census have been used include:

• During the 2011 women’s month celebrations in Polokwane, President Jacob Zuma quoted extensively from the Census giving the report as an authoritative document for measuring women’s participation in the economy.
• In 2011 the Minister for Women, Children and People Living with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana presented the census findings in her address to Parliament and advocated for more gender equality in the economy based on the findings;
• The Commission for Gender Equality held hearings during 2010 for companies and government departments to present reports, strategies and plans for gender mainstreaming within their respective entities. The Commission utilised the findings of the census to call companies considered as “worst performing” by the census to present plans to improve their status;
• A study by Corporate Women Leaders International, a US based organisation that advocates for gender diversity in the global economy and supported by the IFC, included in its 2010 annual report the findings of the census and ranked South Africa amongst the leading countries that promote gender diversity;
• The Gender Equality Project, a Swiss foundation project in partnership with the World Economic Forum, launched an initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos during January 2011 to develop a comprehensive assessment methodology that will enable global companies to measure success at achieving gender equality. They will use the BWA Census for Information on South African companies; and
• The census continues to attract wide media coverage annually and provokes many discussions on the participation of women in the economy.
• As part of the African Business Women’s Network (ABWN), BWASA has shared the software with partners in Nigeria. The principles of the census can be transferred to many different contexts.

The power of the census is that it is a tool to hold the private sector accountable. The SADC Gender Protocol should be used to hold all sectors of society accountable.