As South Africa (SA) marks Women’s Month, attention is once again turning to the challenges women continue to face in the workplace, from unequal pay and limited access to economic opportunities to underrepresentation in leadership.
Those issues were in focus at a business forum in Johannesburg, where speakers called for greater investment in women’s economic empowerment.
Women’s Month has once again put the spotlight on the progress made towards gender equality, while highlighting the challenges that remain.
At the Momentum SheOwnsHerSuccess Media Jamboree in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, speakers argued that meaningful empowerment requires more than recognition-it demands equal opportunities, inclusive leadership and greater financial independence for women.
Momentum Group Chief Executive Officer, Jeanette Marais, says despite women making up a significant share of the workforce, they remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions.
“There’s so much that need to change about how we think about women and supporting women and giving women these opportunities. If you think about the fact that even just in corporate, where actually 46% of the workforce in financial services are women, yet only three out of every 40 seats at the most senior level offered by women. What am I saying? There are layers and layers in many aspects of business and financial services that need to change to give more access and opportunities to women. So undoubtedly it needs to happen.”
Leadership expert, entrepreneur and executive coach Dr Vumy Mkhize says many women who break through the so-called glass ceiling often face another challenge-being appointed to lead organisations already in crisis.
“The biggest challenge is not women having just to overcome glass ceilings, which already is hard enough. But often what we find is that when women finally do get past the glass ceiling, then they’re glass cliffs, where they are taking over organisations that are pretty much in dire straits. So, they are almost set up to fail. And then the argument becomes, but we gave it to a woman, and it didn’t work out. So, it’s not just glass ceilings, it’s glass cliffs. And I think the disparity between how much women earn versus how much men earn is the first challenge.”
Mkhize says creating inclusive workplaces requires a shift away from competition and towards collaboration.
Marais says financial literacy is one of the most powerful tools women can use to build independence and secure their futures.
“A big, important piece of empowerment for me is knowledge, financial education at grassroots level. I have a phrase that I coined that says a man is not a financial plan. Don’t think that I have a partner and the partner is going to look after me. What is your plan? Again, the focus of this campaign is to say, you own that. You own your plan, you own your success and you must. And I think that is a massive step in terms of empowering women to own their own success and to own their own futures and therefore being able to make their own choices.”
With Women’s Month underway, speakers say advancing gender equality will require more than symbolic gestures.
–ChannelAfrica/ Lebogang Mabange–
