The industry with the highest number of women in senior posts

Johannesburg – Of the 55 companies surveyed by McKinsey, women hold 39% of senior management positions in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. This is the highest share among other sectors.

This is according to the McKinsey Women Matter report for Africa, which looks at gender representation in leadership. The report was compiled over 12 months, using data gathered across 14 African countries, including insights from 210 leading companies and interviews with 35 African women leaders.

In total, women hold 29% of senior management positions across industries. Women representation still lags in the heavy industry, at 9%. The sector traditionally relies on engineers for its workforce, historically being men.  “Historically, few women studied in these areas… the pipeline of women is smaller than men than in other areas,” explained Lohini Moodley, partner at McKinsey.