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Claire Mathonsi, executive director of the Bwasa.
THE marginalization of women within a majority of formal industries is not only a national issue that needs to be addressed, but rather a worrying international trend that needs immediate rectification.
Although it cannot be disputed that transformation within professional industries has been occurring over the years, not much is being done to develop and fully take advantage of the potential of women as captains of industry.
Evidence shows that women can be powerful drivers of the economy.
This would be if female employment and entrepreneurial participation rates were to match that of their male counterparts within the highly paid professional occupations, key decision making positions, and entrepreneurship and business transactions.
When more women join the labour force, and particularly become entrepreneurs, GDP rises dramatically in both developed and developing economies.
The impact of women entrepreneurs on the global economy cannot be underestimated.
Although women perform 66% of the world’s work, and produce 50% of the food, they earn only 10% of the income and own 1% of the property in the world.
This has been no different in the South African context.
The 2010 Census figures have shown that an estimated 51% of women within the country are active contributors to South Africa’s GDP.
This is a number which indicates that the employment rate of women is higher than that of men.
However, women still don’t make half as much as men or own half as much property as men, because women are mostly employed in informal sectors, clerical work, caretaking and retail fields where they have very minimal influence in decision making.
Top tier representation lagging
Without a doubt female representation in top-tier business is still lagging.
The 2011 BWA leadership Census showed that of all directors in South Africa, only 16% are women.
These figures are up 7% from 2004. However, this still indicates the need for realistic and immediate solutions to fill these positions to bridge the current gap in this space.
Accordingly, the 2011 FNB White Paper on Female Entrepreneurship revealed worrying statistics that only 38% of established businesses within South Africa are women owned.
Despite women having the potential of being meaningful contributors to economic development they still remain in the outskirts, championing the informal economy.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data further reports that men are almost two times more likely to be involved in the early stages of entrepreneurial ventures compared to women.
To achieve economic empowerment, South Africa needs to recognise the value of female contributions within formal industries.
The reality is that both government and the corporate sector are not at the position to ignore this fact any longer.
Should they continue to do so, this will have a negative impact on South Africa’s economic growth.
A study by the Department for International Development (DFID) shows that higher female earnings and bargaining power can translate into greater investment in education, and health which will lead to economic growth in the long term.
Ripple effects
It has been shown that when women are economically independent, there are ripple effects that spread across to younger women, thereby enabling the creation of a sustainable succession plan that will enable an increase in more women to contribute towards the country’s economic growth.
Even with women’s capabilities and promising potential, gender stereotyping continues to impede female participation in entrepreneurship, and certain industries as traditional views of the need of dominant male participation tend to override the reality of the value behind increased female participation.
The limitation to financial resources is another contributing factor to the delayed development of women in enterprise. There seems to be an existing discrimination when it comes to women seeking finance from traditional institutions.
Interesting to note is that in India GDP could rise by 8% if the female/male ratio of workers went up by 10%.
In Africa the total agricultural outputs could increase by up to 20% if women’s access to agricultural inputs were equal to that of men.
The persistence of gender inequalities directly results in poorer agricultural and human development outcomes.
Research has shown that South Africa’s economy will grow by between 4-6% as a result of increased female participation, and that more women in the workforce could drastically raise the GDP of developing countries 4% to 19% by 2015.
A study conducted by the World Bank in four African countries also showed that providing women farmers with the same quantity and quality of inputs that men typically receive.
Improving their access to agricultural education, could increase national agricultural output and incomes by an estimated 10% to 20%.
Research
In the United States an increase in women employment and business ownership increased their GDP contribution to $3.5trn - a quarter of the current GDP (McKinsey).
Further removing barriers to women labour force participation could increase America’s GDP by 9% and Japan's by 16%.
This is evidence that the advantages of growing women-owned businesses and integrating women into economies can contribute to an increase in the GDP, yield a broad range of economic gains.
This would include job creation, increased profits, productivity gains, better corporate leadership, more efficient utilisation of resources and talent and poverty reduction.
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) or Broad-Based Economic Empowerment (BBEE) has also provided some great results when it comes to female participation and indications of women-based empowerment.
With that said, female-based BEE has not been well coordinated as evidenced by the uneven numbers of women owned businesses, with black women owning the biggest chunk of the stake.
The approach should be aimed at the inclusion of all women within such structures for the country to realise women’s full potential and contributions towards the economy.
The lack of evolvement when it comes to women-based empowerment has resulted in the normalisation of slowed female development within key industries and sectors therefore resulting in it being embraced at a snail’s pace.
Corporate buy-in needed
The saddening reality is that although we are nearing 20 years of democracy, women’s development within business and the work place has been primarily determined by sympathy and consideration instead of their credentials and intellectual capabilities.
As a response to the need to "convince" and get buy-in from corporate South Africa on the need for the inclusion of women in decision making roles, the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa (Bwasa) is building a South African business case for the participation of women in companies.
Based on the census data collected from 2004, the BWA’s intervention is on the back of the proof established by Mckinsey that an increase in women employment and business ownership will increase the country’s GDP.
Although women continue to face gender discrimination and inequalities, with some women experiencing multiple discrimination and exclusion merely because they are female, organisations like the BWA are making it their mandate to change the status quo.
A classic case of how much progress still needs to be made to improve equality in the workplace is the case of Janet Jellen, the candidate to Head the United States (US) Federal Reserve Bank’s.
Her gender has continuously come up as reason for her to not get the position even though her credentials are similar with her male counterpart.
There have been variations of themes on her incapability to handle the position. This includes that she is too “soft-spoken”, lacks “toughness”, that she is short on “gravitas”, that she is not as aggressive or probing as other “male” candidates.
All criticisms have been based on her incapability for the position based on her gender and nothing on her knowledge about monetary policy and her intellectual capabilities, credentials and qualification for the job.
Although the US continues to maintain the perception of progressiveness in terms of equality in women employment and business ownership, it is unfortunate to see such instances of gender discrimination, especially within key decision making roles.
There is a need to start having conversations that will shift the current corporate mindset, and create enabling environments where opportunities are available for women to thrive as captains of industry.
Economic growth
It has been identified globally that women are the engines of economic growth.
Government and corporate South Africa alike need to realise this and start grooming young women, and ensure increased access to opportunities of education for girls, because when 10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases on average by 3%.
To realise its full potential, South Africa needs to start addressing female representation across diverse industries, including the sciences, technology and engineering.
According to the South African Women in Engineering (SAWomEng), the under representation of women in the workplace and in business within the science, technology and engineering sectors is a serious global issue.
With a concerning percentage of women graduates within these fields still below 20%, increasing female representation at tertiary level will help the country in building a pool of women engineers who will contribute towards the economic development of the growth.
Growth in women participation in the areas of science, engineering and technology have been identified as being the catalysts for social uplifting, job creation and economic development.
Addressing this massive skills shortage amongst women will ensure that women solidify their positions as captains of industry in future.
Issues that still plague female economic participation include the fact that a majority of women are employed within the informal, caretaking and retail fields.
Shortage of opportunities
There is a shortage of opportunities where women can participate as decision-makers within traditionally male dominated professions such as engineering, accountancy, architecture and law among others.
Issues around the inclusion of women within meaningful sectors are important elements geared towards economic growth that cannot be ignored anymore.
Neglecting female development will result in possible slowed economic development and the continuation of the marginalisation of women, which will have a worrying effect generationally.
With the National Development Plan (NDP) being identified as the blue print for South Africa furthering transformation and development for all, we hope that such strategies will mark the beginning of the end of the “old boys club” mentality that is continuing the machismo domination within industries.
The common illusion of gender equality within the workplace, especially within some industries is an issue that has to be addressed accordingly for companies and nations to realise their full potential.
The fair inclusion of women within developing economies will result in GDP growth that reaches the double digits, especially given SA’s great potential and existing room for improvement in the country’s GDP performance.
Evidence
The evidence for an increase in women’s participation within economies can no longer be ignored.
Meaningful collaborations between government and the private sector need to occur in order to evolve the current situation. Competitiveness within business should shift from being gender based to performance and results based to allow equal opportunities for growth for both men and women.
Women need to be embraced by all industries, adequately equipped through necessary training and access to resources and facilities that will encourage the beginning of a progressive culture of empowerment aimed at making further contributions towards economic growth.
It has been proven that the integration of women in economies increases profits and has resulted in improved corporate leadership.
It has also been proven that companies with women board directors outperform those of their male counterparts by 66% in Return On Investment (ROI), 53% return of equity and 42% return of sales.
Without a doubt increasing the participation of women in the economy, in entrepreneurship and the workplace will drive South Africa’s economic growth, with projections of an increase of up to a quarter of the current GDP.
* Claire Mathonsi is the executive director of the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa and views expressed are her own.
- Fin24
Although it cannot be disputed that transformation within professional industries has been occurring over the years, not much is being done to develop and fully take advantage of the potential of women as captains of industry.
Evidence shows that women can be powerful drivers of the economy.
This would be if female employment and entrepreneurial participation rates were to match that of their male counterparts within the highly paid professional occupations, key decision making positions, and entrepreneurship and business transactions.
When more women join the labour force, and particularly become entrepreneurs, GDP rises dramatically in both developed and developing economies.
The impact of women entrepreneurs on the global economy cannot be underestimated.
Although women perform 66% of the world’s work, and produce 50% of the food, they earn only 10% of the income and own 1% of the property in the world.
This has been no different in the South African context.
The 2010 Census figures have shown that an estimated 51% of women within the country are active contributors to South Africa’s GDP.
This is a number which indicates that the employment rate of women is higher than that of men.
However, women still don’t make half as much as men or own half as much property as men, because women are mostly employed in informal sectors, clerical work, caretaking and retail fields where they have very minimal influence in decision making.
Top tier representation lagging
Without a doubt female representation in top-tier business is still lagging.
The 2011 BWA leadership Census showed that of all directors in South Africa, only 16% are women.
These figures are up 7% from 2004. However, this still indicates the need for realistic and immediate solutions to fill these positions to bridge the current gap in this space.
Accordingly, the 2011 FNB White Paper on Female Entrepreneurship revealed worrying statistics that only 38% of established businesses within South Africa are women owned.
Despite women having the potential of being meaningful contributors to economic development they still remain in the outskirts, championing the informal economy.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data further reports that men are almost two times more likely to be involved in the early stages of entrepreneurial ventures compared to women.
To achieve economic empowerment, South Africa needs to recognise the value of female contributions within formal industries.
The reality is that both government and the corporate sector are not at the position to ignore this fact any longer.
Should they continue to do so, this will have a negative impact on South Africa’s economic growth.
A study by the Department for International Development (DFID) shows that higher female earnings and bargaining power can translate into greater investment in education, and health which will lead to economic growth in the long term.
Ripple effects
It has been shown that when women are economically independent, there are ripple effects that spread across to younger women, thereby enabling the creation of a sustainable succession plan that will enable an increase in more women to contribute towards the country’s economic growth.
Even with women’s capabilities and promising potential, gender stereotyping continues to impede female participation in entrepreneurship, and certain industries as traditional views of the need of dominant male participation tend to override the reality of the value behind increased female participation.
The limitation to financial resources is another contributing factor to the delayed development of women in enterprise. There seems to be an existing discrimination when it comes to women seeking finance from traditional institutions.
Interesting to note is that in India GDP could rise by 8% if the female/male ratio of workers went up by 10%.
In Africa the total agricultural outputs could increase by up to 20% if women’s access to agricultural inputs were equal to that of men.
The persistence of gender inequalities directly results in poorer agricultural and human development outcomes.
Research has shown that South Africa’s economy will grow by between 4-6% as a result of increased female participation, and that more women in the workforce could drastically raise the GDP of developing countries 4% to 19% by 2015.
A study conducted by the World Bank in four African countries also showed that providing women farmers with the same quantity and quality of inputs that men typically receive.
Improving their access to agricultural education, could increase national agricultural output and incomes by an estimated 10% to 20%.
Research
In the United States an increase in women employment and business ownership increased their GDP contribution to $3.5trn - a quarter of the current GDP (McKinsey).
Further removing barriers to women labour force participation could increase America’s GDP by 9% and Japan's by 16%.
This is evidence that the advantages of growing women-owned businesses and integrating women into economies can contribute to an increase in the GDP, yield a broad range of economic gains.
This would include job creation, increased profits, productivity gains, better corporate leadership, more efficient utilisation of resources and talent and poverty reduction.
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) or Broad-Based Economic Empowerment (BBEE) has also provided some great results when it comes to female participation and indications of women-based empowerment.
With that said, female-based BEE has not been well coordinated as evidenced by the uneven numbers of women owned businesses, with black women owning the biggest chunk of the stake.
The approach should be aimed at the inclusion of all women within such structures for the country to realise women’s full potential and contributions towards the economy.
The lack of evolvement when it comes to women-based empowerment has resulted in the normalisation of slowed female development within key industries and sectors therefore resulting in it being embraced at a snail’s pace.
Corporate buy-in needed
The saddening reality is that although we are nearing 20 years of democracy, women’s development within business and the work place has been primarily determined by sympathy and consideration instead of their credentials and intellectual capabilities.
As a response to the need to "convince" and get buy-in from corporate South Africa on the need for the inclusion of women in decision making roles, the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa (Bwasa) is building a South African business case for the participation of women in companies.
Based on the census data collected from 2004, the BWA’s intervention is on the back of the proof established by Mckinsey that an increase in women employment and business ownership will increase the country’s GDP.
Although women continue to face gender discrimination and inequalities, with some women experiencing multiple discrimination and exclusion merely because they are female, organisations like the BWA are making it their mandate to change the status quo.
A classic case of how much progress still needs to be made to improve equality in the workplace is the case of Janet Jellen, the candidate to Head the United States (US) Federal Reserve Bank’s.
Her gender has continuously come up as reason for her to not get the position even though her credentials are similar with her male counterpart.
There have been variations of themes on her incapability to handle the position. This includes that she is too “soft-spoken”, lacks “toughness”, that she is short on “gravitas”, that she is not as aggressive or probing as other “male” candidates.
All criticisms have been based on her incapability for the position based on her gender and nothing on her knowledge about monetary policy and her intellectual capabilities, credentials and qualification for the job.
Although the US continues to maintain the perception of progressiveness in terms of equality in women employment and business ownership, it is unfortunate to see such instances of gender discrimination, especially within key decision making roles.
There is a need to start having conversations that will shift the current corporate mindset, and create enabling environments where opportunities are available for women to thrive as captains of industry.
Economic growth
It has been identified globally that women are the engines of economic growth.
Government and corporate South Africa alike need to realise this and start grooming young women, and ensure increased access to opportunities of education for girls, because when 10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases on average by 3%.
To realise its full potential, South Africa needs to start addressing female representation across diverse industries, including the sciences, technology and engineering.
According to the South African Women in Engineering (SAWomEng), the under representation of women in the workplace and in business within the science, technology and engineering sectors is a serious global issue.
With a concerning percentage of women graduates within these fields still below 20%, increasing female representation at tertiary level will help the country in building a pool of women engineers who will contribute towards the economic development of the growth.
Growth in women participation in the areas of science, engineering and technology have been identified as being the catalysts for social uplifting, job creation and economic development.
Addressing this massive skills shortage amongst women will ensure that women solidify their positions as captains of industry in future.
Issues that still plague female economic participation include the fact that a majority of women are employed within the informal, caretaking and retail fields.
Shortage of opportunities
There is a shortage of opportunities where women can participate as decision-makers within traditionally male dominated professions such as engineering, accountancy, architecture and law among others.
Issues around the inclusion of women within meaningful sectors are important elements geared towards economic growth that cannot be ignored anymore.
Neglecting female development will result in possible slowed economic development and the continuation of the marginalisation of women, which will have a worrying effect generationally.
With the National Development Plan (NDP) being identified as the blue print for South Africa furthering transformation and development for all, we hope that such strategies will mark the beginning of the end of the “old boys club” mentality that is continuing the machismo domination within industries.
The common illusion of gender equality within the workplace, especially within some industries is an issue that has to be addressed accordingly for companies and nations to realise their full potential.
The fair inclusion of women within developing economies will result in GDP growth that reaches the double digits, especially given SA’s great potential and existing room for improvement in the country’s GDP performance.
Evidence
The evidence for an increase in women’s participation within economies can no longer be ignored.
Meaningful collaborations between government and the private sector need to occur in order to evolve the current situation. Competitiveness within business should shift from being gender based to performance and results based to allow equal opportunities for growth for both men and women.
Women need to be embraced by all industries, adequately equipped through necessary training and access to resources and facilities that will encourage the beginning of a progressive culture of empowerment aimed at making further contributions towards economic growth.
It has been proven that the integration of women in economies increases profits and has resulted in improved corporate leadership.
It has also been proven that companies with women board directors outperform those of their male counterparts by 66% in Return On Investment (ROI), 53% return of equity and 42% return of sales.
Without a doubt increasing the participation of women in the economy, in entrepreneurship and the workplace will drive South Africa’s economic growth, with projections of an increase of up to a quarter of the current GDP.
* Claire Mathonsi is the executive director of the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa and views expressed are her own.
- Fin24
