Women in business census 2004
30 June 2004
A recent study measuring the status of women in corporate leadership finds that all is not well for businesswomen in high places - although South Africa lags only marginally behind the empowerment statistics of countries like the US, Canada and Australia.
The Catalyst census into South African Women in Corporate Leaders, commissioned by the Businesswomen's Association (BWA) and sponsored by Nedbank, found that only 7.1% of directors in South Africa are women. That's compared to Australia's 8.4%, the US's 13.6% and Canada's 11.2%.
The comprehensive census measured the number of women on boards and in executive management of all the companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE), as well as 17 of the largest state-owned enterprises in South Africa.
"While women make up 52% of the adult population in South Africa, they make up only 41% of the working South African population, and constitute only 14.7% of all executive managers", said
BWA CEO Niven Postma.
Of a total 3 125 directorship positions, only 221 are held by women. Only 11 women hold chairs of boards out of a total of 364, and there are only seven female CEOs and managing directors in comparison to 357 males.
The census, conducted locally by EmpowerDEX and the BWA, was based on a methodology developed by US-based Catalyst, which has for the last few years tracked the trends of women in business in the US, Canada and Australia.
Originally designed to clarify and measure the status of women on the boards of the largest companies in the US, the census aims to build a body of accurate statistics to benchmark women’s advancement in business.
The results of the census has provoked critical responses in the corporate world and in the local media.
At the
presentation of the results at the end of April in Sandton, Johannesburg, Transnet group chief executive Maria Ramos insisted that South Africa could not fulfill its full economic potential if all avenues of talent were not being exploited - a sentiment echoed by Nedbank Chief Executive Tom Boardman and BWA President Namame Magau.
South African Businesswoman of the Year 2003 Nicky Newton-King commented: "Companies should see diversity as a strength, not as a notifiable disease."
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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