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HOW has the employment landscape changed for women in South Africa over the past few years?
I think in order to answer this question, it is important to look at overall trends in the job marketplace. The employment landscape has evolved dramatically in the last 10 years and is changing at an ever-increasing rate. Roles that weren’t even thought of two years ago are now commonplace in many companies.
There has been a massive shift in the career landscape due to the rise in technology and advancement in information sharing. Sectors that have seen a dramatic change for example are both the marketing and technology areas, combining the two and creating roles such as social media managers, SEO experts, Google Analytics certified managers, etc.
This has also given rise to legal positions specialising in online reputations, social media policies and privacy rights. In the engineering sector there has been a trend towards all things green, and alternative energy and positions such as sustainability managers and environmental consultants have sprung up.
Leading on from this, women have started to target very specific industries with their beliefs, aspirations and interests. It is no longer commonplace to enter a career path that is traditionally suitable for a mother e.g. teaching or nursing, but rather these paths are chosen by women who truly want to make a difference in these sectors and not because it gives them flexibility to raise a family.
There has been a trend in the financial industry to create opportunities for women. The University of Johannesburg conducted a study that showed it had more female than male graduates in its chartered accounting courses.
This is also an excellent sector to target for any school leaver, as more than 22 000 financial skills will be needed in the near future in companies across South Africa.
There is an ever-increasing focus on women in the IT, sciences and medical fields, who now almost match the amount of male counterparts in similar roles.
Having said all this, however, women still face many challenges in the workplace which may be the factors that contribute to them leaving their jobs. These include:
• Work/family conflict: the support structure for meeting the demands in these areas at both ends is not large enough, leading to frustration and despondency in both areas.
• Work overload: this results in not being able to perform the job properly, leading to frustration and a feeling of failure.
• Job insecurity: the idea that for example taking maternity leave may lead to losing one's job.
• Certain corporate cultures may have very outdated policies that in fact close off barriers to advancement for women. These outdated policies will lack elements like flexi-hours, part-time opportunities and job sharing, all of which could ease the burden for a working mother/wife and ease the work/family conflict, work overload and job insecurity.
• There are still companies that believe a woman’s family life will affect her ability to perform her role successfully, and may in fact hinder her performance. There is also a belief that women can’t handle stress as well as men, which in turn creates the perception that they can’t perform their roles as effectively.
As much as these two beliefs are untrue, they can still be a factor in preventing women from attaining leadership roles and need to be abolished from a young age, starting at primary school level.
How to keep female talent
In the majority of South African companies, women are highly regarded and respected, with the factors below usually in place. For those that don’t, there are strategies companies can implement in order to retain their talented female staff:
• It is of utmost importance to foster a culture that supports women in leadership positions, from a respect and promotions point of view. This belief comes from the top down and cannot be implemented until all senior staff are on the same page.
• Opportunities to learn and grow need to be available, such as offering study loans and support as well as training and mentorship programmes.
• Organisations should work to accommodate women’s career aspirations. Regular meetings to discuss performance, goals and ideas should be held so that these aims can be discussed and acted on.
• Family-friendly policies need to be implemented which may include flexi-hours, working from home, etc. This will do a lot to ease enormous amounts of pressure and eliminate work overload.
In essence there are just as many opportunities for women as for men in South Africa, perhaps even more.
Passion, hard work and dedication will always find their place in any company and as long as everyone in the worklplace is respected and listened to, each individual will reach their own full potential.
- Fin24
*Juliette Attwell is head: marketing & operations at Recruitgroup. Views expressed are her own.
I think in order to answer this question, it is important to look at overall trends in the job marketplace. The employment landscape has evolved dramatically in the last 10 years and is changing at an ever-increasing rate. Roles that weren’t even thought of two years ago are now commonplace in many companies.
There has been a massive shift in the career landscape due to the rise in technology and advancement in information sharing. Sectors that have seen a dramatic change for example are both the marketing and technology areas, combining the two and creating roles such as social media managers, SEO experts, Google Analytics certified managers, etc.
This has also given rise to legal positions specialising in online reputations, social media policies and privacy rights. In the engineering sector there has been a trend towards all things green, and alternative energy and positions such as sustainability managers and environmental consultants have sprung up.
Leading on from this, women have started to target very specific industries with their beliefs, aspirations and interests. It is no longer commonplace to enter a career path that is traditionally suitable for a mother e.g. teaching or nursing, but rather these paths are chosen by women who truly want to make a difference in these sectors and not because it gives them flexibility to raise a family.
There has been a trend in the financial industry to create opportunities for women. The University of Johannesburg conducted a study that showed it had more female than male graduates in its chartered accounting courses.
This is also an excellent sector to target for any school leaver, as more than 22 000 financial skills will be needed in the near future in companies across South Africa.
There is an ever-increasing focus on women in the IT, sciences and medical fields, who now almost match the amount of male counterparts in similar roles.
Having said all this, however, women still face many challenges in the workplace which may be the factors that contribute to them leaving their jobs. These include:
• Work/family conflict: the support structure for meeting the demands in these areas at both ends is not large enough, leading to frustration and despondency in both areas.
• Work overload: this results in not being able to perform the job properly, leading to frustration and a feeling of failure.
• Job insecurity: the idea that for example taking maternity leave may lead to losing one's job.
• Certain corporate cultures may have very outdated policies that in fact close off barriers to advancement for women. These outdated policies will lack elements like flexi-hours, part-time opportunities and job sharing, all of which could ease the burden for a working mother/wife and ease the work/family conflict, work overload and job insecurity.
• There are still companies that believe a woman’s family life will affect her ability to perform her role successfully, and may in fact hinder her performance. There is also a belief that women can’t handle stress as well as men, which in turn creates the perception that they can’t perform their roles as effectively.
As much as these two beliefs are untrue, they can still be a factor in preventing women from attaining leadership roles and need to be abolished from a young age, starting at primary school level.
How to keep female talent
In the majority of South African companies, women are highly regarded and respected, with the factors below usually in place. For those that don’t, there are strategies companies can implement in order to retain their talented female staff:
• It is of utmost importance to foster a culture that supports women in leadership positions, from a respect and promotions point of view. This belief comes from the top down and cannot be implemented until all senior staff are on the same page.
• Opportunities to learn and grow need to be available, such as offering study loans and support as well as training and mentorship programmes.
• Organisations should work to accommodate women’s career aspirations. Regular meetings to discuss performance, goals and ideas should be held so that these aims can be discussed and acted on.
• Family-friendly policies need to be implemented which may include flexi-hours, working from home, etc. This will do a lot to ease enormous amounts of pressure and eliminate work overload.
In essence there are just as many opportunities for women as for men in South Africa, perhaps even more.
Passion, hard work and dedication will always find their place in any company and as long as everyone in the worklplace is respected and listened to, each individual will reach their own full potential.
- Fin24
*Juliette Attwell is head: marketing & operations at Recruitgroup. Views expressed are her own.
