TOP 5 COMPANIES ACING
GENDER POLICY IMPLEMENTATION By: Charndré Kippie According to The World Economic
The National Development Plan (NDP),
action in the fight for gender equality
for 2020, South Africa’s women
that is most distressed by inequality,
SA has considerably more women
Forum’s (WEF) Gender Gap Index
occupy 38% of senior level positions in business organisations – that is
managerial and CEO roles. Of all the enterprises recorded on the JSE,
3.31% of CEOs listed are female. The
most important question, at this point, is: How do we get this right for a better future?
WHERE WE’RE AT
The journey towards achieving gender equality in the workplace has been
more than challenging over the past
decade for most companies, globally and nationally, to say the least; the injustices women are presented with in the
workforce, and poor representativeness in workplace environments, can be
traced back to ‘old-fashioned’ norms and ideological cultural practices. In 2020, women still remain under-represented
within many sectors, and most patently
so at leadership levels in organisations. “Despite the broad acknowledgement that gender and diversity concerns should be addressed, there is a lack of clarity as to
pinpoints women as the demographic
poverty and unemployment. The NDP Executive Summary (2030) presents detailed accounts of future equality objectives which the government is
actively working on obtaining for the
graduates than men, and our statistics show that South African women
(within corporate settings) have great aspirations for success.
nation. The following aspirational
Transformation has, unfortunately, always
• Increase employment from 13 million
Africa especially. Previously, the counter
• Ensure that skilled, technical,
stages of its democracy. Today, more
milestones have been outlined: in 2010 to 24 million.
been a slow process for corporate South was that South Africa is still in the early
professional and managerial posts
than a quarter century since its inception,
gender and disability makeup.
remains, for the most part, slow. Some
better reflect the country’s racial, • Reduce inequality – The Gini
coefficient should fall from 0.69 to 0.6.
• Broaden ownership of assets to
historically disadvantaged groups.
• Realise a developmental, capable
and ethical state that treats citizens with dignity.
• Broaden social cohesion and unity while redressing the inequities of the past.
• Play a leading role in continental
development, economic integration and human rights.
what steps should be taken to effect lasting
While all these aspirations are noble,
Manager: People and Organisation Division
stages, and towards transformative
change.” ─ Anelisa Keke, PwC Senior
across our nation. As it stands,
we need to move beyond the planning
132 STANDARD BANK TO P W O M EN LEADERS
the pace of reformation in corporate SA companies tend to approach diversity
grudgingly, seeing it as an inconvenience that needs to be maintained in order to appease regulatory requirements.
“Achieving gender parity throughout the workplace is one of the most crucial
challenges that business leaders face
today. The quality of women’s talent and leadership is very important to business – the skills and experience that they
bring, including those gained outside of the workplace, have proved to be
essential in strategic decision-making and ethical, sustainable enterprise.”
─ Anastacia Tshesane, diversity and
inclusion leader for PwC Southern Africa.