SA's top women speak out on AA

The event, which took place for the first time last year, was attended by 20 high-profile women who had very definite opinions on the dinner debate's opening statement, which was motivated along the following lines: "There's no reason for women to be singled out for such special treatment. No woman should be a beneficiary of affirmative action, a measure that's aimed at righting the wrongs of the past.

"White women aren't being singled out - à la Jimmy Manyi, chairperson of the Commission for Employment Equity, who had said that too many white women have benefited from affirmative action and are occupying leadership positions because of that.

"Women, as a class, were never prohibited by law from occupying certain positions. The apartheid laws discriminated on the basis of race, not gender."

Just in case that controversial view wasn't going to have the ladies up in arms, another viewpoint was put forward: "Awards such as Businesswoman of the Year only emphasise the fact that women aren't considered good enough to compete against men. The implication is: "Well done - for a woman." Facing that sort of recognition, women should say: "Thank you - but no thank you."

Redressing discrimination

"Although apartheid didn't specifically discriminate against women by law, it has in spirit," said Yolanda Cuba, CEO of the Mvelaphanda Group. "You only have to look at apartheid SA, where you had one female member in Parliament for a very long time. So I strongly believe that women have been discriminated against in the past. Therefore, there has to be a method to redress that somehow."

All the participants shared that view, although they had different views on whether white and black women should be treated differently.

Wiphold CEO Louisa Mojela stated in no uncertain terms that black women were much more oppressed than their white counterparts. "When we started Wiphold we opened the shareholding up to all women. The split between white and black ended up as 60:40. The economic power of white women, like Wendy Applebaum, allowed them to take prime position.

"So the reality is that white women - who were also excluded from certain positions and until very recently were also required to obtain their husbands' permission before they could take up a board position - still get the best opportunities. Therefore, affirmative action should apply to black women first. Companies are choosing the easy way out by appointing white women to attain employment equity targets."

Triple oppressed

Applebaum, director of Liberty Investors and daughter of Liberty Life founder and living legend Donald Gordon, objected: "How often do you hear companies saying they can kill two birds with one stone by appointing a black woman to the board?"

Mojela's sentiments were echoed by Independent Development Trust CEO Thembi Nwedamutswu, who described the plight of black women as being triple oppressed due to apartheid, the patriarchal system and economically. But white women, who also suffered as a result of social prejudices, were not that hard hit.

An interesting observation, made by two of the attendees, was that affirmative action was needed to force men to allow women into their boardrooms, as men were holding on to those positions "because of fear, nothing else", said Thandi Orleyn, executive director of Peotona, the women's business grouping she leads, with Cheryl Carolus, Dolly Mokgatle and Wendy Lucas Bull.

The four made headlines earlier this year when Reunert included them in a very beneficial empowerment deal.

"But," continued Orleyn, "the debate should be overshadowed by the huge developmental shortage in this country. We don't have a choice but to tap into the many skills of women, both black and white."

'Men fear the power of women'

"Men are fearful of the power of women," was the view of Nina Morris, MD of morrisjones&co. "Regardless of whether they've been excluded by law, women have always been excluded. That's the bottom line. Across the board there's been discrimination against women - obviously much more so in the corporate environment than in the entrepreneurial environment, where women have forever been running businesses.

"This fear of women's abilities is a global trend, because women can do so many things: not just have careers, not just help people grow and nurture them. The first time men sat up and became aware of what women can do was when they had to manufacture weapons during World War II."

Illustrating that point further, Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane pointed out that for a long time male engineers seemed to think that women couldn't be engineers or even technicians. "I experienced the result of such discrimination first-hand when the daughter of an acquaintance couldn't graduate because no firm would give her an opportunity to do an internship year. The pecking order was white men, white females, black men and only then black females.

"Then I introduced a programme for women only, because I really wanted to empower young black women. The student in question excelled - and that really helped to get women the respect they deserve. I really believe in affirmative action for women."

'Perfect AA candidate'

Portia Molefe, director-general at the Department of Public Enterprises, has no qualms about what affirmative action has done for her. "I'm the precise affirmative action candidate. I was made by it and I'm proud of the opportunity it gave me to get where I am.

"I am, though, troubled by women's awards and women's organisations. I don't believe in any of them."

But she was on her own concerning that statement. Cuba, who was also named Businesswoman of the Year, said that although she also doesn't belong to or believe in women's organisations, she used her position as winner of the award to inspire women in business. "I can't remember how many women in different industries would come to the office dressed properly after I'd talked to them about the importance of looking the part."

Christine Ramon, chief financial officer at Sasol, agreed that she found the award ceremony of the Businesswoman of the Year very inspirational. "It draws attention to women who have broken through the glass ceiling. It creates awareness of the need for affirmative action in the corporate world. If we weren't obliged to implement affirmative action at Sasol we'd not have achieved the level of transformation that we indeed have."

Jimmy Manyi's report on the fact that too many white women occupy leadership positions was endorsed in no uncertain terms by Sasol executive director Nolitha Fakude. "We must assume that he releases these reports based on statistics that are obtained from corporate SA. The issue is that more white women in corporate SA are getting promoted than black women. The rate of promotion is also faster for white women than it is for black women.

'Sisters, together'

"Everybody is whingeing and moaning because it's inconvenient for companies to adhere to employment equity. It's always been natural for white men to appoint people who look like them and with whom they feel comfortable. That has to change." [Finweek didn't succeed in obtaining any of Manyi's statistical evidence.]

Orleyn embroidered on the issue of the comfort zone. "At our company - a women's company, and intentionally so - we have three black women and one white woman. In some boards you find that they are more comfortable with white women, so we rather send in Wendy [Lucas Bull]. You have to extend the game and understand how to play it.

"And among ourselves we must make sure that we as women don't compete with one another. We must make sure of our strengths - and weaknesses - and what we can use to our advantage. Don't allow companies to tell us who may sit on boards - and we must find a way to negotiate the situation. So, sisters, together."

- Finweek