Young South African women can look forward to an extremely rewarding career — as can many of the more mature women in this country.
The current dispensation allows women of all ethnic origins to finally come into their own in business. More opportunities are opening for women in all spheres of industry. Indeed, the achievements of today’s businesswomen are remarkable — especially when one looks at how far we’ve come since the 1956 protests.
Yet the true success stories remain isolated instances. The South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2006 shows that while women make up 52% of the adult population in South Africa and 41% of the working total population, they constitute only 16,8% of all executive managers and only 11,5% of all directors in the country.
This may be indicative of three things. Firstly, business continues to balk at creating genuine gender equality. Secondly, there are indications that the talent pool has not yet been developed adequately. Thirdly, women already in the workplace are not yet truly empowered.
On the contrary, women are often disempowered — both by the corporate environment in which they are endeavouring to compete, and by their own lack of conviction. To succeed and be fully empowered, a woman needs to know who she is in terms of her fundamental values, as it is on this foundation that self-confidence and clarity of purpose is built, allowing her to be totally comfortable in her diverse roles within the community, her family and her career.
This said, the changed legislative landscape in South Africa has created a strong framework for redressing the imbalances and inequalities of the past. Yet so many South Africans seem unaware of the inherent power in the instruments of change — such as employment equity, skills development and training, labour legislation and even our Constitution. Individually and collectively, they are creating a new world order, especially for women.
Black economic empowerment is a good example of this. Not only has it put women firmly on the business agenda, but it has also helped accelerate real empowerment of women. So much so that, for those with the talent, requisite skill and the appetite, there is truly no limit to the possibilities. In fact, young black women should be fully aware both of the vast opportunities that await them and the converse — namely that, should they not succeed, then they have chosen to fail.
Moreover, many businesses have instituted progressive policies and workplace concepts that empower all employees, irrespective of gender. At Motorola, for example, non-traditional working hours are the norm, driven by a vision of seamless mobility where what you do is more important than where you’re at. Not to mention the concept of the Mobile Zone, which brings the workplace closer to home via seamlessly connected workstations, thus making the daily commute an option rather than a ”must do”.
There is, however, a caveat — namely that the ability of women to break the glass ceiling is somewhat meaningless against the backdrop of crime in South Africa. True empowerment must encompass all aspects of life: it must become part of your moral fibre as evidenced by your behaviour towards others.
But existence of practices that perpetuate the disempowerment of women in the workplace, starting with the gender disparity in earnings where, despite having equal qualifications and experience, men consistently earn more than women, continues.
Yet South African legislation protects the rights of women in that it forbids disparity on the grounds of gender or race.
Women have to act more progressively if they are aware of such discrimination.
The issue of sexual harassment in the workplace is still very much a burden women have to carry. It is often coupled with violent or abusive behaviour towards women, which can be physical, verbal or emotional. Through experiences in counselling women, it emerged that it is vital for women to know who they are within themselves. This is not only because in the absence of this conviction, women are up for the picking, but also because their own value system provides inner strength that goes a long way to protecting a woman from these evils. It also helps to find a mentor in the organisation who a woman can empathise with and who offers support.
Unfortunately, window dressing with women also persists. Women are placed in high — positions, but without giving them any decision-making authority. But the mistake should not be made of assuming that one is entitled to it because of a fancy job description. Instead, women in that position should decide what level of power they want in the workplace, and then go and out and get it.
Judi Nwokedi is the director of corporate and government affairs at Motorola South Africa and also the only black female on the Motorola board