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Johannesburg - The lack of women graduates in information technology, engineering and other technical skills is one of the reasons gender transformation is moving so slowly in South Africa, according to Sandra Burmeister, CEO of Amrop Landelahni.
She admits that there has been progress over the past few years, but the advancement of women into top jobs remains slow.
South Africa follows the global pattern where the number of women declines as they rise through the corporate ranks.
“We need a high proportion of women at the professional and skilled levels to boost the pipeline at senior and top management levels,” said Burmeister.
“However, as more women move into these professions, so the gender balance of the graduate profile is changing."
In South Africa, as well as in many other African countries, the proportion of female university graduates now exceeds that of men.
According to the 2014 Employment Equity Report, the number of women in top management increased from 14% in 2003 to 21% in 2013.
Women in senior management increased from 22% to 30% over the same period, while professionals increased from 36% to 43% and skilled workers from 44% to 47%.
“These increases show that more women are now represented at every level in the organisation,” said Burmeister.
“It is possible to achieve diversity if top management uses the same approach to gender empowerment as it would to any other organisational change initiative."
She warned, however, that the need for employment equity should not be confused with the need for gender equity.
"Let’s leave broad-based black economic empowerment to do its job and let gender equity initiatives get on with their job," she said.
"Correlating employment equity with gender equity simply carves up the workforce pool into ever tinier segments so as to meet targets."
To enable gender empowerment to succeed, one must take into account the pipeline of young women coming into the workplace and set appropriate targets, she said.
The UK government is currently considering legislation that all new board appointments should have an all-female shortlist.
Helping hand debate
This suggestion has run into opposition on the basis that it implies women need a helping hand and may in the end achieve only token representation.
“Women themselves have argued that it would also devalue the achievements of those who reached their positions based on their competency in open competition with male applicants,” said Burmeister.
"South Africa’s Gender Equality Bill asserts the right sentiments, but we need to align quotas with the availability of suitably qualified women."
Setting realistic targets depends on the pipeline of candidates entering the workforce in a particular discipline.
“The first step is to focus on gender equality in education, since this builds the foundation for increasing the number of skilled, professional women entering the workplace," she said.
"We have evidence from the Nordic countries that putting effort into equal education paves the way for the successful introduction of quotas at work."
Favouring women for technical jobs, however, makes sense only if such people are available.
“In South Africa, a blanket target of 50% women will pose difficulties for sectors where two-thirds of workers are technical – such as in construction, infrastructure and information technology," she said.
"A fixed 50% target is not realistic since there simply may not be enough women to fill half the positions in all types of jobs."
Globally, there are significantly fewer women working in technical and engineering disciplines. Nowhere in the world do women represent 50% of engineers nor artisans.
“It is however encouraging that, according to a recent PwC survey, women are better represented in executive management and board committees in the top South African mining companies than in any other country,” said Burmeister.
Global research by the Credit Suisse Research Institute shows that companies with one or more women on the board have delivered higher average return on equity, lower gearing and better average growth.
“It is clear that companies who are proactive in providing formal mentoring and development opportunities to enable women to progress through the ranks reap the rewards,” said Burmeister.
She admits that there has been progress over the past few years, but the advancement of women into top jobs remains slow.
South Africa follows the global pattern where the number of women declines as they rise through the corporate ranks.
“We need a high proportion of women at the professional and skilled levels to boost the pipeline at senior and top management levels,” said Burmeister.
“However, as more women move into these professions, so the gender balance of the graduate profile is changing."
In South Africa, as well as in many other African countries, the proportion of female university graduates now exceeds that of men.
According to the 2014 Employment Equity Report, the number of women in top management increased from 14% in 2003 to 21% in 2013.
Women in senior management increased from 22% to 30% over the same period, while professionals increased from 36% to 43% and skilled workers from 44% to 47%.
“These increases show that more women are now represented at every level in the organisation,” said Burmeister.
“It is possible to achieve diversity if top management uses the same approach to gender empowerment as it would to any other organisational change initiative."
She warned, however, that the need for employment equity should not be confused with the need for gender equity.
"Let’s leave broad-based black economic empowerment to do its job and let gender equity initiatives get on with their job," she said.
"Correlating employment equity with gender equity simply carves up the workforce pool into ever tinier segments so as to meet targets."
To enable gender empowerment to succeed, one must take into account the pipeline of young women coming into the workplace and set appropriate targets, she said.
The UK government is currently considering legislation that all new board appointments should have an all-female shortlist.
Helping hand debate
This suggestion has run into opposition on the basis that it implies women need a helping hand and may in the end achieve only token representation.
“Women themselves have argued that it would also devalue the achievements of those who reached their positions based on their competency in open competition with male applicants,” said Burmeister.
"South Africa’s Gender Equality Bill asserts the right sentiments, but we need to align quotas with the availability of suitably qualified women."
Setting realistic targets depends on the pipeline of candidates entering the workforce in a particular discipline.
“The first step is to focus on gender equality in education, since this builds the foundation for increasing the number of skilled, professional women entering the workplace," she said.
"We have evidence from the Nordic countries that putting effort into equal education paves the way for the successful introduction of quotas at work."
Favouring women for technical jobs, however, makes sense only if such people are available.
“In South Africa, a blanket target of 50% women will pose difficulties for sectors where two-thirds of workers are technical – such as in construction, infrastructure and information technology," she said.
"A fixed 50% target is not realistic since there simply may not be enough women to fill half the positions in all types of jobs."
Globally, there are significantly fewer women working in technical and engineering disciplines. Nowhere in the world do women represent 50% of engineers nor artisans.
“It is however encouraging that, according to a recent PwC survey, women are better represented in executive management and board committees in the top South African mining companies than in any other country,” said Burmeister.
Global research by the Credit Suisse Research Institute shows that companies with one or more women on the board have delivered higher average return on equity, lower gearing and better average growth.
“It is clear that companies who are proactive in providing formal mentoring and development opportunities to enable women to progress through the ranks reap the rewards,” said Burmeister.
