Every August, South Africa celebrates Women’s Month, which recognizes the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and the country. At Novus Group, we’ve seen several key themes emerge in the conversations around Women’s Month over the past few weeks, including the gender pay gap, ongoing organisational challenges, and prominent female appointments to C-suite positions.
Persistent pay gap
Speaking on Cape Talk’s The Money Show, Zanele Njapha – known as the ‘Unlearning Lady’ – said South Africa still has a median gender pay gap of between 23%-35%. The country is ranked 123rd out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report for 2022, which means it’s a conversation that we’ll continue to have for some time.
But it’s not all negative news. In SA News, the government news agency, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for equal pay in the various sporting codes following Banyana Banyana’s victory in winning South Africa’s first ever Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
“We must make sure we eliminate the whole process of unequal pay out of our system. When men and women do equal work, the remuneration must be the same. We cannot continue treating the women of our country in an unjust and unfair manner like that,” said President Ramaphosa.
Workplace challenges
Achieving gender equality in the workplace is not something that will happen overnight. Women still face significant obstacles. According to Stats SA, almost 67% of all senior management positions in corporate South Africa are held by men, and men are far more likely to be in paid employment than women.
A City Press article reinforced the need to make the work environment more conducive to women executives. Quoting PwC’s Andréas Horak, the article stressed the importance of corporate South Africa needing to establish a pipeline that will channel women executives to top jobs currently occupied by men who will be retiring in the next five years.
This article followed the release of the PwC SA 2022 Executive Directors Report, which revealed how companies were ‘significantly male-dominated,’ and that the average executive director in the JSE was about 54. Horak said there a need for companies to widen their senior management pool with significant representation of women to give them enough time to grow and obtain experience.
Fresh appointments
There has been a slew of female appointments to C-suite positions over the past several months. RMB named Emrie Brown as its new CEO in May – only the second woman in the country to lead a corporate and investment bank. In July, Standard Bank Group appointed Margaret Nienaber as its COO, and a few days later, Absa named Dawn Mthombeni as an executive within the office of newly appointed CEO Arrie Rautenbach.
Earlier this year, Africa.com announced its second annual Definitive List of Women CEOs. This year’s list features 74 women, a meaningful increase from the 50 women who made last year’s list. Categorised in three groups – CEOs, Divisional CEOs and Regional CEOs – all the women featured run businesses with revenue of $100 million or more.
If you’d like to see what trends Novus can highlight for your business and clients, contact us here.