BWASA 2005 Census Results

Census Results

South Africa - 2005

Canada - 2004

At the Launch

Tina Thomson, BWA CEO

Dr Namane Magau, BWA President

Cyril Ramaphosa

Professor Stella Nkomo

Tom Boardman, Nedbank & Gill Marcus

Media Coverage

Radio Interviews

20 April 2005: 702 Business News - Tina Thomson
20 April 2005: East Coast Radio - Tina Thomson
20 April 2005: SABC Monitor - Tina Thomson
20 April 2005: SAfm Afternoon Talk with Thabiso Sikwane - Tina Thomson
20 April 2005: Channel Islamic International (DStv Channel 66) - Tina Thomson
20 April 2005: Yfm News @ 9:00am - Tina Thomson
20 April 2005: Yfm - Tina Thomson
22 April 2005: RSG - Tina Thomson

Television

20 April 2005: SABC 3 News @ 1 - Namane Magau
20 April 2005: Summit TV News @ 7:00pm - Namane Magau
21 April 2005: e.tv Morning Edition - Tina Thomson

Websites

20 April 2005: Moneyweb - Women have a way to go
20 April 2005: I-Net Bridge - Census
20 April 2005: Mail & Guardian Online - SA women hold less than 20% of top jobs
20 April 2005: Biz-Community - Where are the women bosses?
20 April 2005: Finance24 - Only eight women CEOs in SA
22 April 2005: Moneyweb - Tina Thomson

Newspaper Articles

Women do well, but still lag behind men

14 August 2005
Sowetan Sunday World, Don Makatile

It's Women's Month and women all over the country are celebrating the great strides they have made in our fair land, especially since the dawn of our new democracy. One such cause for joy is the number of women company directors we boast of in the new South Africa. But few people seem to be aware that our celebrated female directors are paid a lot less than their male counterparts.

The Businesswomen's Association (BWA), our elite "girls club", paints a rosy picture. Their South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2005 has only praise for the business efforts of the fairer sex.

It proudly points out that the percentage of women board directors stands as 10.7% in South Africa, better than even Australia, which boasts a lower 8.6%. It also looks at the top 49 companies - those with 25% or more board seats occupied by women directors - and speaks glowingly about the achievements of women chairs of boards as at September 30 last year.

But a recent report titles Mind the Gap - the Gender Gap in the South African Workplace gives one some sobering food for thought. Empowerdex says: "The gender pay gap, which refers to the average difference in earnings between men and women, seems to occur across continents in both developed and developing countries alike. Although the breadth of this gap varies from one country to the next, it is unwaveringly consistent in one respect - in every country which has reported on the gender pay gap in recent years, women ear less than men."

"In the best international case scenario, which occurs in Sweden, women earn 8.4% less that their male peers. In Japan, women are the worst off in relation to their male colleagues, earning 33.3% less than them."

In South Africa the situation is better than Japan's, but still not good enough. "Ours is as low as 24.7%," says Natalie Clow-Wilson of Empowerdex. She says The Gender Gap in the South African Workplace looked at women in state-owned firms, private companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange SA, as well as those in the Cabinet.

Namane Magau is president of the BWA, and sits on boards of several companies. Santam and Murray & Roberts among them. She says their document is a snapshot of where women are at present in corporate South Africa. "Women's salaries is the current reality. It's a gap we want to address and we think business has to be creative in doing so," she says.

From her years in human resource directorships, Magau says she's found the traditional justification for the disparities to the that women have just come on board. "Men have been in the pipeline for much longer and, as a result, possess the requisite skills. Women, on the other hand, are mostly at entry-level points," she says.

Perhaps it's time for women to stop partying and start running - they have a lot of catching up to do.

Women in Executive Positions on the Increase in South Africa

July 2005
Management Today

Women are increasingly making their way up the corporate ladder in South Africa. This is according to the South African women in corporate leadership census conducted by the Businesswomen's Association. The census covers all firms listed on the JSE as well as state owned enterprises.

Women holding executive management positions in South Africa have increased by 5.1% since 2004. Women have also improved their position in directorships by 3.6%. Today there are eight women CEOs, an increase from seven in 2004. State owned enterprises continue to outperform the private sector when it comes to the advancement of women. However, the biggest companies by market capitalisation have the lowest percentage of women executives.

Bateman professor of business leadership at UNISA's Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL), Prof Stella Nkomo was invited to become part of a panel to discuss the results of the census alongside executive chairmain of the Shanduka Group. Cyrila Ramaphosa, Tom Boardman, CEO of Nedbank, sponsor of the Census, Dr Namane Magau, president of BWA, and former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, Gill Marcus, currently professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science Business School.

According to Prof Nkomo, 17 companies earned the double crown label of top performing companies. To achieve this, 25% or more of director positions and 25% or more of executive manager positions must be held by women. In 2004, there were only ten companies that earned this double crown.

"The other remarkable finding is that South Africa, with 19.9% of its executive managers being women, has surpassed the USA who has only achieved 15.7%. Australia lags far behind at 10.2%. While it may be exhilarating to see a 'developing' country outpace a 'developed' country, the US is not a good role model for women's advancement in corporate South Africa," Prof Nkomo said.

"It has taken the US almost 33 years since legislation was passed outlawing sex discrimination in employment to reach this figure. The South African government's goal of 30% women in government and the public sector is a much better role model for corporate South Africa," said Prof Nkomo.

She also noted the 2005 census reveals some troublesome statistics. "Most prominently, only three organisations managed to hold on to their position as top performing companies earned in 2004. Incidentally, all of these companies earned were state owned enterprises. Are companies doing the right things to retain women executives or is there a revolving door? This is a statistic to watch closely in future years."

Prof Nkomo further observed, "For the first time, the census added race as a metric and found some striking differences. Of the 1 102 women executive managers in South Africa, 83.8% are white. In contrast, the majority of women directors (non-executive) are black.

"It is easier for a black woman to become a director than it is for her to become a senior executive. This is one of those deja vu moments. Having studied the experience of African-American and minority women executives in the US for over 20 years, this evolving pattern is not unfamiliar."

"The African-American women and other women of colour in the USA evoke the image of a 'concrete wall' when talking about their experiences in corporate America. They discount the glass ceiling metaphor because they have not advanced as far as their white sisters. Whatever the metaphor, the stark reality is women around the world including South Africa continue to face a steep uphill climb to the executive suite compared to their male counterparts."

"Demographics in South Africa are vastly different from the USA, so one must stay awake at night worrying about the troublesome position of black women executives here. Organisations should think carefully about making sure their strategies for recruitment, promotion and retention do not allow black women to fall between the cracks with black men and white women inadvertently garnering the most from transformation efforts. Race and gender combined create unique challenges for black women and this must be recognised."

"Organisations are going to have to become quite aggressive and creative in grooming and developing black women for management and executive positions. If the pipeline doesn't start flowing soon and faster, there is the real spectre that most of the targets set in industry charters will be missed"

"What is truly needed is a strategic approach to human capital investment and management that is linked to the very core of the business," said Prof Nkomo. "The advancement of women should not be relegated to the margins of business, but must become a central feature of running a competitive company in today's South Africa."

"Old fashioned ideas about how long it takes to produce a qualified and competent senior executive need to be revisited. In today's dynamic, competitive landscape no organisation can wait 20 years for talent to rise, no matter what colour or gender," she concluded.

At Last, Women are no Longer Tag-alongs in Empowerment

Business Report
8 May 2005
Black Jack - Vuyo Jack

My first article for this column coincided with Women's Day in August 2004. I asked whether women empowerment was a hymn without an amen. It is now appropriate to assess the state of women empowerment as we celebrate Mother's Day.

In 2004, the Businesswomen's Association conducted a census that highlighted the following:

There is a 5.9% representation of women on the boards of companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange, and 26.8% on state-owned entities (SOEs);
The chair of board position is held by women in 2.6% of JSE-listed companies (nine out of 347) and in 11.8% (2 out of 17) of SOEs, and
Almost 60% of JSE-listed companies with 17.6% of SOEs.

The results improved in a follow up census in 2005. The Businesswomen's Association census cites the national census finding that women represent 52% of the adult population, with 41% gainfully employed. Only 14.3% of all executive managers and only 7.1% of all directors in the country were women.

The representation of women on the boards of JSE-listed companies has increased to 9.2% (34.9% in SOEs), leading to an ove4rall representation by women on the boards of both listed companies and SOEs of 10.3%. Women now account for 3.7% of the board chairs of JSE-listed companies and 11.8% in SOEs.

About 56.2% of women directors on the boards of listed companies and SOEs are black. However, the SOEs still outperform the listed companies.

What has accounted for the increased women representation on the boards is a mixture of factors, but chief amont these is the pressure put by black economic empowerment (BEE) initiatives on companies to transform in order to retain their business with the government. Public sector licensing, procurement and concessions have exerted pressure on companies to increase black women representation in their governance and executive structures.

On the black ownership front, more focus is placed on having black women as key participants in deals. A typical scenario in the past would have the males (black and white) concluding the salient details of the deal and as an afterthought giving women 2.5%. The women would be brought to the press conference announcing the deal without having details of the rand amount that would accrue to them and the voting rights (if any) that they would be able to exercise.

However, this status of women as tag-alongs would not last long because of the introduction of the draft codes of good practice on BEE, which set a target of 10% of all economic interest and voting rights of the entire entity to accrue to black women. This target brings women to the mainstream of the economy. These specific targets are in line with the requirements of the Broad-bases BEE Act, which states that there must be specific targets for black women in BEE initiatives.

The effect of these targets was brilliantly demonstrated in most of the deals that were announced after the release of the draft codes. The FirstRand deal included the Women Development Bank Trust (WDB) as the main BEE partner in the deal. Recently, the Old Mutual Group included Winhold as the major business partner in the three BEE deals concluded.

Even before the release of the codes, in the banking sector Absa led the way by making Nthobi Angel a principal partner in its deal, Bidvest concluded a deal with Dinatla consortium, which included WDB as one of the main partners to the deal. Challenges still abound. For example, more that 53.5% of listed companies still have no women on their boards. Furthermore, the concluded deals take a long time to provide tangible economic benefits to black partners.

Employment equity, skills development, affirmative procurement, enterprise development and corporate social investment could be used to empower women.

Hopefully on this Mother's Day we can be able to say to our mothers, sisters and wives that Gladys Knight's cry in her song Guilty - "There are two strikes against me when I come up to bat. One strike for being female. One strike for being black" - would be lament of the past and that women empowerment will be a hymn with an amen.

Women board members still rarity

Business Day
3 May 2005

Only 81 female executive directors
Ayanda Shezi, Economics Correspondent

There are so few women executive directors in SA they would all fit on a double-decker bus with room to spare, a corporate leadership study shows. According to the 2005 South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census, there were only 81 women executive directors in SA, out of a total of 1150 executive directors.

The census, conducted by the Businesswomen?s Association (BWA) and empowerment rating agency EmpowerDEX, sponsored by Nedbank, showed that women were still significantly underrepresented in SA?s boardrooms.

The study also showed that women in corporate SA had some way to go before they caught up with their counterparts in government and small business. More than 64% of state-owned enterprises had three or more women directors on their boards, compared with 6,8% of JSE Securities Exchange SA-listed companies. Women in Parliament accounted for more than 30% of seats in the National Assembly.

The study showed there were 2851 directors in SA, both executive and nonexecutive. The census showed that 278 women directors held 306 directorships, with only 10,7% of total directorship positions being held by women. More than 84% of the women holding executive directorships held one directorship, and two held five or more ? Elisabeth Bradley with six positions, and Danisa Baloyi with five. There were 10 women with three or more directorship positions.

The study, conducted last year, sought to give a complete picture of women in key corporate positions for every JSE-listed company, and 17 of SA?s largest state-owned enterprises. Of the 306 directorships, 48,4% were held by African women and 43,8% by white women. Coloured and Indian women held 4,9% and 3,2% of the positions, respectively.

"Women are a minority within a minority," said BWA president Namane Magau.

The study showed that the relative representation of women in executive management and board positions did not correspond meaningfully to the proportion of women in SA?s overall working population. Women make up 52,1% of SA?s adult population, but only 41,3% of its working population. Only 6,2% of CEOs and board chairs are women.

Of the top 25 companies on the local exchange by market capitalisation, at only three ? MTN, Pick ?n Pay and Sanlam ? were more than 25% of the directorships held by women. Anglo American, the largest company on the JSE with a market capitalisation of more than R200bn, had no women directors. Sanlam, one of the 25 largest companies on the JSE, had the highest number of women directors, with a total of five out of 18.

Women are also underrepresented in executive manager ranks.

Executive managers have control over day-to-day operations, and are among the most senior decision makers ? and form the ranks from which future directors can be sourced. The census found there were 1102 women executive managers, who made up 19,8% of all executive managers in SA.

SA fares better in this category than some developed countries, since in the US only 15,7% of executive managers are women, in Canada the figure is 14%, and in Australia 10,2%.

In 1992, fewer than 15, or 1,2%, of directors of JSE-listed companies, were black, according to a separate study by EmpowerDEX (Pioneers, Powers and Pundits: Influential and Powerful Black Directors on the JSE).

In December 2003, there were 307 blacks holding 430 directorships in JSE-listed companies. Of these, 225 held only one directorship, while 10 held four or more board positions.

Those with five or more directorships included Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Hixonia Nyasulu.

"The workloads of well-known black personalities are generally high as a result of their personal stature and business networks," the study said.

Iron lady of business wants to empower women in SA

Pretoria News
2 May 2005
By Manoah Esipisu and Mboniso Sigonyela

South African businesswoman Gloria Serobe is muscling her way into boardrooms occupied largely by rich white men in an effort to transform the economy in favour of poor black women.

Serobe is one of the four co-founders of Women Investment Portfolio Holdings, a company partly owned by 300 000 women members aimed at winning some of the gains of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), the government policy that seeks to redress economic imbalances wrought by decades of apartheid.

Although 52% of South Africa's population are women, few have seen much progress in the boardroom since the country's first democratic elections in 1994.

Census 2005, a survey of women in corporate leadership, this month showed there are only eight female CEOs in 364 companies and only 15 women chairing boards.

"What is important for us is that women like Gloria Serobe have their hearts in the right place. They are keen to invest in their communities and develop their lot," said Namane Magau, president of the Business Women's Association.

"We need more women in the top places across the economy. There are just too few women up the economic ladder and one has a sense that everything has got to be done to encourage them to keep climbing, to pick themselves up and continue the climb whenever they slip," Magau said.

Serobe and her partners Wendy Luhabe, Louisa Mojela and Nomhle Canca founded their company in 1994.

It is aimed specifically at bringing women into the mainstream economy and quickly growing the company to thousands of members by tapping into non-governmental organisations. Leading South African weekly business journal The Financial Mail named Serobe and Luhabe among the country's 20 most influential women last year.

"Those (women) who have been with us since (1994) have been rewarded in a way they have never been before, we have given more than five times back (to) our investors," Serobe said from her office in Houghton, Johannesburg. "But women must make sacrifices and there are trade-offs if they want to compete effectively in a male-dominated world. Men have long settled for these trade-offs and what's left is for women to deal with that and build their careers," she said.

The company was formed with seed capital of R500 000 raised by Serobe and her partners, and was listed on the Johannesburg bourse in 1999 as it sought to raise cash to plough into growth. It bought out institutional investors four years later and delisted as a R1,5-billion company. Serobe said the company was not ready for the bourse, but funding from institutions was conditional on a listing. Now the company is concentrating on growing the business and a new listing is not contemplated in the near future.

"We listed on the day the markets crashed in 1999 - not a good day to list. "We later decided to take the company off the market because it was not helping us and our BEE profile was being diluted," she said. Unlike many in her country, Serobe is well-grounded in business, holding degrees in commerce and business.

She gained management experience working at ExxonMobil in the United States before returning home to an executive position at state logistics giant Transnet. Her company owns 49 % of black-led stockbroking house Legae Securities plus a 40% stake in Future Growth Asset Management.

It has more investments in telecoms group Ericsson's South African operations and gaming group Sun International - making it one of the wealthiest groups owned by black women.

Women leaders say the black economic empowerment policy has not been refined to a level where poor communities are allowed to enter the mainstream of the economy, particularly poor women.

"Those who are more privileged than others - male or female, black or white - should take responsibility to ensure broader citizenry participate in the mainstream to create communities that can sustain themselves," said Magau. "The number of women in the economic mainstream is still minuscule and much more needs to be done to change that."

Women leaders say Serobe and her peers at the top of the business ladder have helped develop a cadre of women professionals, but those slightly lower down the ladder are still fighting for survival.

"There are many people trying to cut down the ladder and derail women, so women have to work hard to stay at the top," said Business Women's Association CEO Tina Thomson.

Last week Serobe and the company sealed an agreement to take part ownership in South Africa's largest insurer, Old Mutual. At R7-billion, this was one of the biggest black empowerment deals in the country. "This is exactly where we wanted to be. We can't be looking anywhere else in financial services - all our goals were met in just one deal," Serobe said.

"Our joy is that thousands of ordinary women will gain from this and become influential in business," she said.

Women Still have Long Way to Top

Sandton Chronicle
29 April 2005
Gillian Redmond

While South African women have made a leap up the corporate ladder in the past year, they still have a long climb ahead before they are equitably represented in the top echelons of business and industry. This is according to the findings of the South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2005, conducted by the Businesswomen's Association (BWA), sponsored by Nedbank, and launched at Nedbank Sandton last week.

According to the findings, women are significantly under-represented in top corporate leadership positions, particularly those involving the core functions of business such as finance. While the number of women chairs on boards increased from 11 in 1004 to 15 in 2005, women CEO ranks were swelled by one, from seven to eight (2.2%), in the past year. Amazingly, this is better than the international average.

South African women in the executive management ranks also fare better than women in other countries. According to the 2005 census, 19.9% of executive managers in South Africa are women, compared to only 15.7% in the US (2003), 14% in Canada (2003) and 10.2% in Australia (2004).

Of total directorship positions, South Africa again had one of the higher proportions of women directors among the four countries in which the census was conducted. Women in South Africa hold 10.7% of directorship positions. Of a total of 2 851 directorships, 278 women hold 306 directorships.

South African women were particularly well represented in government, state-owned enterprises and owner-managed businesses, but were slowly making inroads into the boys' club culture of the corporate sector. "This is one of the reasons Nedbank also sponsors programmes such as women in golf," commented Nedbank CE, Tom Boardman, one of the panel members at the launch of the census.

Panellists - who included Johnnic chairman Cyril Ramaphosa, Professor Gill Marcus, BWA president Dr Namane Magau and Professor Stella Nkomo of Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership - also acknowledged there were particular factors inhibiting the advancement of women which should be taken into account.

Nedbank Sandton, for example, provided an excellent, on-site cr?che for the children of employees and was "looking at flexible hours", said Boardman. The point was also made that often women were their own worst enemies when it came to making it to the top. Women had self-esteem issues, and tended to compete among themselves rather than standing together and supporting one another. Women who reached the top were "the last ones" to champion rising women leaders.

"We need to profile women in the corporate environment to establish issues affecting success and to seize the agenda," said Professor Marcus. "Women also need to focus on core areas of the business rather than just the support services, such as human resources," she said.

Nie Wit of Swart Nie

Finansies & Tegniek
27 April 2005
Wilma de Bruin

Swart vroue in SA het wel beduidende vordering gemaak op die gebied van direkteurskappe (48.4% teenoor 43.8% blanke vroue), maar hulle is nog ver agter hul wit ewekniee op die vlak van uitvoerende bestuurder (8.3% swart en 83.8% wit). Die en ander bevindings en kommentaar wereld het hewige debat, vraw en opmerkings ontlok, sowel van die paneel kundiges onder voorsitterskap van Gill Marcus, buitengewone professor in beleid, leierskap en geslagstudies by GIBS, as van toonaangewende vroue in die gehoor tydens die loodsing van SA vroue in korporatiewe leiersposisies. Vir vroue wat tot leiersposisies vorder, gaan die gedeeltelik oor getalle en "kwotas", het Marcus opgemerk. Omdat gewoonlik net 'n beperket getal toppotse vir vroue oop is, dikwels in mensehulpbronne en kommunikasie, ding hulle gewoonlink met mekaarmee eerder as om na die geheel to kyk.

"Getalle is belangrik, soos ons uit die sensus gesien het. Dis ook belangrik ten opsigte van wat vroue doen wanneer hulle hoe poste bereik. Waar vroue weet daar gaan net vie een of twee van hulle plek wees, raak hulle mededingend, pleks dat hullu kuk na die rol van vroue in die bree verband en die feit dat hulle so die rol van vroue verbeter."

Marcus se hoewel sy ten gunste van kwotas is, moet die stetsel aandrag kry wat vroue beperk om met ander vroue mee te ding eerder as om vir die beste betrekking mee te ding. Sy meen ook vroue moet hulle mening oor alle belangrike kwessies in die land laat geld. "As vroue moet ons daadkragtig optree. En dit gaan nie net oor vrouekwessies nie. Dit gaan oor beieidskwessies wat die land en alles wat ons doen raak. Ons het vrouekundigheid op alle terreine maar ons gebruik dit nie. Niemand gaan vir vroue die ruimte aanbield nie, ons moet die ruimte soek en dit gebruik en seker maak dat vroue hul stemme laat hoor as kundiges oor belangrike kwessies wat die land raak."

Die kwessies van bespotting kom ook ter sprake. "Die oomblik wanneer jy will he vroue moet ophou doen wat hulle doen omdate hulle dit goen begin doen, hoef jy net 'n gespot aan die gang to sit. Vroue word aan spotteru onderwerp om humme stil te maak." Dis baie belangrik dat vroue mekaar beskerm, se Marcus. "Maar dikwels is vroue die grootste spotters. Dis hulle wat aanmerkings maak oor die modesin, die haarstyl en die skoene..."

Glass Ceiling

The Witness
27 April 2005

According to a recent corporate leadership survey commissioned by the Businesswomen's Association, South Africa's boardrooms are still overwhelmingly dominated by men. Women make up 52% of the total population and 42% of them are employed, but four fifths of executive managers are men, more than half of the country's companies have no women directors at all, and only 6.2% of CEOs are women.

For a nation committed to gender equity, these are distressing statistics. There are, however, some promising trends. There has been a small but significant improvement over the past year with newer companies showing the way. State enterprises have the highest representation of women on their boards, and (perhaps surprisingly) South African businesswomen are better placed than their counterparts in Canada, the United States and Australia.

With the situation so parlous, self-congratulation is hardly appropriate, but most encouraging of all is the evident commitment of the ANC to bringing about gender equity. With government leading by example, the pace of change must surely accelerate in the future.

Where are the women bosses?

Bizcommunity
26 April 2005

According to the South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2004, commissioned by the Businesswomen's Association (BWA) and sponsored by Nedbank, women make up 52% of the adult population in South Africa, but they only make up 41% of the working South African population, constitute only 14,7% of all executive managers and only 7,1% seats on boards of directors in the country are held by women.

The Census 2004 was the first of its kind in South Africa and measured the representation of women on the board of directors and at an executive management level with all JSE-listed companies, as well as South Africa's 17 state-owned enterprises.

Soon to be released, the Census 2005 will not only compare the 2003 / 2004 and 2004 / 2005 figures, but has been expanded to include the status of women directors (i.e. executive [CEOs and Chairs], non-executive), and the race of women directors. The Census 2005 also asks: Where are the 14.7% of South African woman executive managers concentrated and which listed companies are following through on gender equality?

Women Claw their Way to the Top

Business Times
24 April 2005

Female Directors are still a minority, but it's a growing one, writes Gaenor Vaida

Women are inching their way up the corporate ladder - but they remain a minority among chairmen, directors and heads of listed companies and parastatals.

The latest Businesswomen's Association survey, the South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2005, shows that there are just eight female chief executives and 15 women chairing company boards.

Only 10.7% of non-executive and executive directors are women. The survey looked at all companies listed on the main board of the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa, and 17 of the largest parastatals. These figures are, however, an improvement on last year's survey, which found that there were 7 female CEOs and 11 women made up 7.1% of boards.

Despite the low percentages, South Africa does compare quite favourably with other countries. International head hunters Korn/Ferry International's Global Board Services Practice 31st Board of Directors Survey shows each country has a different attitude to bringing women onto boards.

Didier Vuchot, chairman of Korn/Ferry International Europe, says in general there are more boards with female directors than boards without. He said that in Europe "board diversity is not a big issue". Norway, Sweden and Finland have "particularly" high proportions of female board members.

In Britain, about 10% - 12% of board members are women. In France, there are almost no women on boards representing listed companies, but senior women are found on boards as representatives of private companies and as government representatives. Where South Africa does seem to lag is the number of boards that have female directors. The Businesswomen's Association survey found that 53.2% of SA boards have no female directors and 27.7% have only one.

Wuchot paints a different picture globally. "Women now hold seats on 82% of Fortune 1000 boards, a striking increase from the 63% found in the 1994 proxy analysis. In South Africa, state-owned enterprises are leading the way: 64.7% have three or more women on their boards. In contrast, more than half (55.5%) the companies listed on the JSE have no women directors and 29% have just one.

Speaking at the launch of the census this week. Shanduka Group executive chairman Cyril Ramaphose said: "I have found that the commitment to empowering women starts at the top". He said the shortage of women in senior business positions "has a lot to do with the cultural legacy and influence men have had with corporate life".

He said it only had to be decided once that women should be promoted up the ranks: "Once it is done at the top, then it is done. It starts cascading down; it is no longer an issue."

There is a marked difference between women directors and women executive managers in terms of race. Black women dominate the female directorships, holding more than 48% of them, while white women hold 43.8%, coloured women just less than 5% and Indian women 3.2%. White women dominate female executive management positions, holding 83.8% versus 8.3% for black women, 5.8% for Indian women and 2.2% for coloured women.

Women overall hold 19.7% of executive management positions. Namane Magau, president of the Businesswomen's Association, says it is easier to become a chairman of a board - as an outsider to the company - than to become an executive manager. "Executive managers are the timber grown within the company and it takes time."

To promote women simply because they are women would be "artificial", Magau said. It would be wrong to stop promoting white women, but companies should "put more emphasis on the development of black women. The main focus must be on (promoting) both (white and black women) to maintain the momentum".

Leadership consultant Louis Parr of Parr Lamond & Associates said women should stop trying to fit in with the male culture that dominates in boardrooms, and rather play up their strong points. "Gender differences are fundamental, but they bestow equally valuable competencies," said Parr.

She said women have more emotional "energy" for relationships and, used constructively, they are good team players and "excellent at building networks of supportive relationships".

In contrast, said Parr, men are better at seeing and seizing opportunities. They are good deal-makers and "they do what's necessary to fit things together and fix them."

"Financial success increasingly takes both kinds of competencies. Once men and women stop hoping that they will be able to operate in the same way and start genuinely valuing the competence of the other, they will make awesome team-mates. The creative potential of these partnerships has hardly yet been tapped."

Grab the Reins

The Star
22 April 2005

Women's liberation may have secured equal opportunities in the Western world, but even with many other barriers broken, it appears the old glass ceiling still exists.

Although more talented women are being inspired to rise to senior management positions in the private and public sectors, their ambition is likely to be thwarted at the very top.

Our major companies should be taking their lead from Britain's successes likes Marks & Spencer, Legal & General and AstraZeneca, which are doing well in terms of employing female directors. It's important now that the under-representation of women at CEO level is tackled, as Thabo Mbeki's government sets the political example.

But it's not only up to human resources. There certainly was inherent praise in the Businesswomen's Association census this week for companies which are promoting women, but women themselves must surely take the initiative on the issue of executive control. Although companies must create empowering environments and ensure there is management of succession planning, the onus is now also on ambitious women to acquire critical skills.

Women are traditionally good decision makers but do not always make pre-emptive strikes about their own lives. The time to achieve is right now.

Glass Ceiling Still Rules for Women

The Witness
21 April 2005

Survey shows under-representation of women in business executive positions

According to a corporate leadership census, men still hold the power in the boardrooms, with women filling only 6.2% of company chief executive seats in South Africa. "Over half of South African companies have no women directors at all," said Namane Magau, President of the Businesswomen's Association, at yesterday's release of a study the association commissioned.

According to the South African Women in Corporate Leadership survey, although women make up 52% of the total population and 41% are employed, they constitute 19.8% of all executive managers and 10.7% of directors. The study also found that the majority of directorships - 48.4% - are held by black women, with white women holding 43.8%, 4.9% by coloured women and 3.2% by Indian women. However, 80% of executive directorship positions are held by white women.

The survey of every JSE Securities Exchange-listed company and 17 of the largest state owned enterprises in South Africa showed that state enterprises are leading the pack with more women on boards, and that the largest and oldest private companies are doing the poorest.

The census showed 5.1% increase in the number of executive managers and a 3.6% increase in the number of directors from last year, with South Africa businesswomen better representation than their counterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Minder as 20% van SA Kantoorbase is Vroue

Sake Burger, Oos Kaap
21 April 2005

Kaapstad - Net 19.8% van alle uitvoerende bestuurslui, 10.7% van alle direksielede en 6.2% van uitvoerende hoofde en direksievoorsitters van groot maatskappye in Suid-Afrika is vroue - hoewel 52.1% van die totale volwasse bevolking en 41.3% van die arbeidsmag in die land vroulik is.

Die syfers van die 2005 sensus oor vroue in korporatiewe leiersjapposisies, wat deur die vereniging van sakevroue met behulp van EmpowerDEX en nedbank gedoen word, toon nietemin 'n styging in die verteenwoordigin van vroue op top-vlak.

Volgens doe 2004 sensus was 14.7% van die uitvoerende bestuurslui en 7.1% van direksielede vroue, wat beteken die afgelope jaar was daar in die twee kategoriee persentasiepunt-stygings van onderskeidelik 5.1% en 3.6. Die sensus is gedoen onder genoteerde maatskappye en 17 van die grootste staatskorporasies.

Die jongste sensus toon daar is 278 vroulike direksielede wat 306 direkteurskappe word 48.4% deur swart vroue beklee, 43.8% deur wit vroue, 4.6% deur bruis vroue en 3.2% deur Indiervroue.

Die sensus het bevind dit lyk of vroue makliker voorsitter van 'n direksie as uitvoerende hoof van 'n groot maatskappy word. Daar is altesame 15 vroulike voorsitters van direksies en 8 (2.2%) vroulike uitvoerende hoofde.

Maatskappye waarin vroue meer as 25% van die direkteursposte sowel as uitvoerende bestuursposte beklee, is Adonis Knitwear, Aquilla Growth, Buildmax, DataPro Group, Ontwikkelingsbank van Suider-Afrika, Er.com, Infowave, Insurance Outsourcing Managers, Nictus, Paracon, Petra Mining, SABC, SA Poskantoor, TransCaledon Tonnelowerheid, Terexo en Tisec.

Girls Just Wanna Run a Company

Sowetan
21 April 2005
Phumza Macanda

Black women are more likely to directors than CEOs, study says

Black women in South Africa have a better chance of being company directors than being chief executive officers. Their chances of being in senior management are enhanced if they work for state-owned enterprises rather that the private sector. This came out of the Businesswomen's Association's (BWA) Census 2005, released yesterday.

Launched last year, the census measure the number of women in executive and non-executive positions in corporate South Africa and in state-owned enterprises. It revealed that although South African women were still underrepresented in the boardroom, the proportions are 4% higher than those in the US.

BWA president, Dr Namane Magau, says state-owned enterprises in South Africa lead the pack in fast tracking the empowerment of women in the country. This year's census has gone further to include the status of women directors and executive managers. "Although women are underrepresented in South African boardrooms, the country has managed to make significant strides in changing this," Magau says.

In the past year, the number of women in executive management and directorship positions has increased. Last year women constituted only 14.7% of all executive management and only 7.1% of all directors. This year there is a 5.1% and 3.6% increase respectively. There are only 15 female chairs of boards in South Africa, up from eleven last year. The number of women CEOs has increased by one to eight this year, and four of those are in state-owned enterprises.

Black women are more likely to be company directors than white women, while this is different at CEO level. Black women only hold 2 of the 8 CEO positions in the country. Of the 306 directorships held by women, black women hold the most - at 48.4% - while white women hold 43.8%.

Nolitha Fakude, group strategy and corporate affairs manager at sponsor Nedbank said companies should use the census to develop a strategy for gender equiry. "While the BWA census 2005 should not divide black and white women, it does highlight that there should be a special focus in dealing with the black women's issues of race, gender and culture" says Magau.

Meer Vroue het Poste op Top-vlak

Sake Beeld
21 April 2005

Net 19.8% van alle uitvoerende bestuurslui, 10.7% van alle direskielede en 6.2% van uitvoerende hoofde en direksievoorsitters van groot maatskappye in Suid-Afrika is vroue, hoewel 52.1% van die land vroue is. Die syfers van die 2005 sensus oor vroue in korporatiewe leiersposisies, wat deur die Vereniging van Sakevroue met behulp van EmpowerDEX en Nedbank gedoen word, toon nietemin 'n styging van vroue op top-vlak.

Volgens die sensus verlede jaar was 14.7% van die uitvoerende bestuurrslui en 7.1% van direksielede vroue. Dit betekn in hierdie twee kategoriee was daar die afgelope jaar persentasiepuntsygings van onderskeidelik 5.1 en 3.6.

Die nuutste sensus toon daar is 278 vroue-direksielede wat 306 direkteurskappe word 48.4% deur swart vroue beklee, 43.8% deur with vroue, 4.6% deur bruin vroue en 3.2% deur Indier-vroue. Die sensus het bevind dit lyk asof vroue makliker voorsitter van 'n direksie as uitvoerende hoof van 'n groot maatskappy word.

Daar is altesame 15 vrouevoorsitters van direskies en 8 (2.2%) vroue-uitvoerende hoofde. Verlede jaar was daar 11 vroue-direksievoorsitters en 7 vroue-uitvoerende hoofde. Die sensus noem 'n paar maatskappye waar vroue meer as 25% van die direkteursposte sowel as uitvoerende bestuursposte beklee.

Hulle is Adonis Knitwear, Auilla Growth, Buildmax, die DataPro Group, die Ontwikelingsbank van Suider-Afrika, ER.com, Infowave, Insurance Outsourcing Managers, Nictus Beperk, Paracon, Petra Mining, die SABC, die SA Poskantoor, die TransCaledon-tonnelowerheid, Terexo en Tisec.

Only 6% of Women in Corporate Leadership Roles

Mercury
21 April 2005

There is a need for men to be conscientised

According to a corporate leadership census, men still hold the power in the boardrooms, with women filling only 6.25% of company chief executives and board chair seats in South Africa. "Over half of South African companies have no women directors at all," said Namane Magau, President of the Businesswomen's Association, at yesterdays release of a study the association commissioned.

According to the South African Women in Corporate Leadership survey, although women make up 52% of the total population and 41% of those are employed, they constitute only 19.8% of all executive managers and 10.7% of directors.

The study also found that the majority of directorships - 48.4% - are held by black women, with white women holding 43.8%, 4.9% by coloured women and 3.2% by Indian women. However, 80% of executive directorship positions are held by white women.

The survey of every JSE Securities Exchange-listed company and 17 of the largest state-owned enterprises in South Africa showed that state enterprises were leading the pack with more women on boards, and that the largest and oldest private companies were doing the poorest.

The census showed a 5.1% increase in the number of executive managers and a 3.6% increase in the number of directors from last year, with South African businesswomen better represented than their counterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Rightful Place

Commenting on the census, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We need to take steps to position women in their rightful place... in important entities that move this country forward. People often thought it would be difficult to find such women and that women were not skilled.

"But they are there and can be found and put into positions where they can do better than men," he said. The challenge was to ensure that men became the champions of the empowerment of women. Answering a question on why he felt it important to have a special mindset to hire women, Ramaphosa said that because of the influence that men had had over the ages, there was a need for men to be conscientised. "Just look at black economic empowerment. There was a lot of resistance in the past... Now it is the done thing - you have got to do it."

Unisa professor of business leadership Stella Nkomo said that companies also needed to examine some "old-fashioned" ideas that a person could only advance in a company after being there for a long time.

The "top-performing company" for this year's census was Adonis Knitware Holdings - Sapa

Doors Begin to Open - and it Helps to have Financial Skills

Financial Mail
21 April 2005
Jacqui Pile

Survey shows representation climbing as SA mind-set changes

White women have been shunted off most of the empowerment charters, but the relative representation of women in executive management and board positions is increasingly steadily.

This year's Businesswomen's Association (BWA) census of SA executive businesswomen shows that 19.8% of executive management positions are filled by women, an increase of 5.1% points from last year and ahead of the US (15.7%), Canada (14%) and Australia (10.2%). The number of female directors increased by 3.6% points last year to 10.7% of total directorships, once again ahead of Australia, where about 8.6% of directors are women, and only slightly behind Canada (11.2%) and the US (13.6%).

"The mind-set of SA business is right," says BWA CEO Tina Thomson. "Business leaders have generally embraced empowerment and accepted the need to correct past imbalances, and this has helped the cause of women in business." But women still have a long way to go. Only 15 women chair the boards of companies (4% of all chairs) and only eight women (2%) are CEOs of major listed corporations.

The researchers believe this is because women who are interviews for CEO positions need to show they have strong financial experience. "Women are generally taught soft skills; they generally don't have much of this kind of experience," says Thomson.

This year the BWA wanted to measure the number of non-executive directors too. "We wanted to see whether women were being granted positions to beef up empowerment credentials, or being given real power in the boardroom," says Thomson. New codes of best practice on empowerment released by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) exclude white women from earning points for companies on empowerment scorecards. Not surprisingly, therefore, about 48% of the 306 directorships held by women are held by black women and 44% by white women.

However, more than 83% of executive management positions held by women are in white hands, compared with 8.3% for black women. Empowerdex director Chia-Chao Wu says this trend applies to men as well as women. "Black directors with experience are easier to fins; executive managers have to climb the corporate ladder and there may be obstacles in the way."

He says gender inequality is a result of social factors while race inequality was legislated, pushing race to the fore in the effort to remove inequality. White businesswomen worry that they may be sidelined in the empowerment process given that they have been excluded from the draft code and are also excluded from preferential procurement regulations. In a proposal to the national treasury, the BWA says the draft regulations entrench the disadvantages of all women in corporations, especially those in smaller businesses.

"No preference is given specifically to black women ownerships or skills development," says Thomson. "And white women are excluded from the preferential points allocated for achieving the targets of government's objectives." The survey also found that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were leading the way in gender empowerment.

Over 64% of SOEs had more than three women directors, compared with just 6% of JSE companies. In contrast, 56% of JSE companies had no women directors, compared with 12% of SOEs. Some of the 25 biggest listed companies by market capitalisation show few women directors. Anglo American, Richemont, Gold Fields and Afrox, for example, have no female directors at all. In contrast, a quarter or more of directors at Pick 'n Pay, MTN and Sanlam are women.

The report says there appears to be a correlation between the size of an industry and its gender representation. "The largest and oldest SA industries have the lowest proportion of women in director positions," says Thomson. The BWA report suggests existing formal and informal industry networks may preclude women from some industries, such as mining.

Their gradual emergence at director level should aid the process of women getting more responsibility for making decisions, says the Institute of Directors executive director, Tony Dixon. "Directors are the decision makers in the economy," he says. "They are the creators of wealth and jobs."

Executive managers provide an important pipeline of future directors. They are running day-to-day operations. The BWA also believe that higher female representation improves the profitability of companies. An analysis of Fortune 500 companies that stayed on the list for four of the years between 1996 and 2001 showed that those with significant female representation at senior management level derived 34% higher total shareholders' returns than companies with fewer senior women.

The BWA hoped to prove the SA case in next year's study.

Too Few Women Hold Top Positions - Study

Daily Dispatch
21 April 2005

Johannesburg - According to a corporate leadership census men still hold the power in the boardroom, with women filling only 6.2% of company chief executive and board chair seats in South Africa.

"Over half of South African companies have no women directors at all," said Namane Magau, president of the Businesswomen's Association, at yesterday's release of a study the association commissioned.

According to teh South African Women in Corporate Leadership survey, although women make up 52% of the total population and 41% of those are employed, they constitute only 19.8% of all executive managers and 10.7% of directors.

The study also found that the majority of directorships - 48.4% - are held by black women, with white women holding 43.8%, 4.9% by coloured women and 3.2% by indian women.

However, 80% of executive directorship positions are held by white women. The survey of every JSE Securites Exchange listed company and 17 of the largest state-owned enterprises in South Africa showed that state enterprises were leading the pack with more women on boards, and that the largest and oldest private companies were doing the poorest.

Thecensus showed a 5.1% increase in the number of executive managers and a 3.6% increase in the number of directors from last year, with South African businesswomen better represented than their counterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Commenting on the census, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We need to take steps to position women in their rightful place... in important entities that move this country forward. People often though it would be difficult to find such wome, and that women were not skilled. But they are there and can be found and put into positions where they can do better than men," he said.

The challenge was to ensure that men became the champions of the empowerment of women. Asked why he felt that it was important to have a special mindset to hire women, Ramaphosa replied that, because of the influence that men had had over the ages, there was a need for men to be conscientised. "Just look at BEE (black economic empowerment) - there was a lot of resistance in the past... now it is the done thing - you have got to do it."

Unisa professor of business leadership Stell Nkomo said companies also needed to examine some "old-fashioned" ideas that a person could only advance in a company after being there for a long time. The "top performing company" for this year's census was Adonis Knitware Holdings - Sapa

Glass Ceiling Still Being Felt: Survey

Citizen
21 April 2005
By Felicity Duncan

Although South African women have made some major strides over the past few years, there is a long way to go before women can say the glass ceiling is shattered.

The Nedbank / Businesswomen's Association SA Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2005, released yesterday, shows that women constitute 19.8% of executive managers and 10.7% of directors of 372 companies surveyed. The companies included 355 JSE-listed entities and 17 large state-owned enterprises.

These figues are an improviement on last year's comparable figures of 14.7% and 7.1% respectively, but still leave much to be desired considering that 41.3% of the working population is female.

Interestingly, of the women directors, 48.4% are black women, while 43.8% are white, 5% are coloured and 3% indian. This is perhaps a reflection of the emphasis many sectoral charters have placed on having black women on boards, and of the high points awarded for such directors on empowerment scorecards.

Of the almost 20% of executive managers who are female, 83.8% are white, 8.3% are black, 2.2% are coloured and 5.8% are indian. This is a reflection of the historical tendency to favour white women over black women; it takes years to groom executive managers.

The best employers for women are state-owned enterprises with a high level of both female directors (35%) and executive managers (31%). The worst industries are consumer goods, financial services and resources.

The survey is a useful benchmark, and the very fact that there is accurate measurement of women's represenation encourages companies to focus on their empowerment, survey panelists said. - felicity@moneyweb.co.za

Only 6.2% of SA women hold positions of power in the boardroom, survey finds

Cape Times
21 April 2005

Johannesburg: Men still hold the power in the boardroom, with women filling only 6.2% of company chief executive and board chair seats in South Africa, according to a corporate leadership census.

"Over half of South African companies have no woman directors," said Businesswomen's Association presiden Namane Magau as the release of a study the association commissioned.

The South African Women in Corporate Leadership survey found that although women make up 52% of the population, with 41% of them employed, they constitute only 19.8% of executive managers and 10.7% of directors.

The study also found the majority of directorships - 48.4% - are held by black women, with white women holding 43.8%, coloured women 4.9% and Indian women 3.2%. But, 80% of executive directorships are held by white women.

The survey of every JSE Securities Exchange listed company and 17 of SA's largest state-owned enterprises showed that state enterprises were leading the pack with more women on boards, and that the largest and oldest private companies were doing the poorest.

The census showed a 5.1% increase in the number of executive managers and a 3.6% increase in the number of directors from last year, with South African businesswomen better represented than their couterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Commenting on the census, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We need to take stepd to position women in their rightful place... in important entities that move this country forward. People often thought it would be difficult to find such women, and that women were not skilled. But they are there and can be found and put into positions where they can do better than men," he said. - Sapa

Women CEOs still few and far between

The Star
April 21, 2005
By Nalisha Kalideen and Sapa

But parastatals keep SA ahead of many developed countries

It is definitely still a man's world. However, although South Africa's workingwomen are grossly under-represented as executive managers, this country is ahead of some First World countries when it comes to the proportion of women in the top echelons of business.

This is according to the Businesswomen's Association (BWA) census, which was released yesterday.

The census, which aims to track the trends of women in business in South Africa, found that although only 19,8% of local companies had women as executive managers, this figure was way ahead of those in the US, Canada and Australia, which respectively had 15,7%, 14% and 10,2% of these positions filled by women.

This was the second annual census released by the association, which, in conjunction with EmpowerDEX, surveyed 355 JSE Securities Exchange companies and 17 state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The census found that the number of female executive managers had increased by about 5% since last year. But it also found that women were still significantly under-represented in top corporate leadership positions.

Out of the 372 chief executive officers (CEOs) in these companies and SOEs, only eight were women, and of the same number of board chairpersons in the country, 15 were women.

The survey noted that it seemed to be easier for women to become chairs of boards than CEOs.

Tina Thomson, CEO of the BWA, said this was probably because, in order to fill these positions, women required "financial profit and loss experience".

"The norm has been that women are placed merely as directors of human resources (HR) and communications."

"But in order for a woman to become a CEO, she needs financial experience."

"Those very women in the HR positions need to start appointing women in the business fields to gain that experience."

"Although the HR and communication positions are called soft skills, these are vital positions," Thomson said.

She pointed out that there may be more women business leaders than in other countries because of the SOEs, which had 11,8% of women chairs of boards, compared with 3,7% in JSE-listed companies.

"Decidedly, the SOEs are pushing those figures up. The government is doing an excellent job," Thomson said.

She also pointed out that just over half of the companies involved in the census did not have a single female board member.

Thomson said that what was needed was for women in high-level positions to be less competitive among themselves.

"I think women must help other women. I can never overemphasise the power of mentoring and nurturing. No business course or learning can teach you what an experienced business person can."

"Unfortunately, because many of these companies have limited top positions for women, you find women become competitive with each other instead of being supportive," Thomson added.

She said many women were also their own worst enemies, because they lacked confidence to seize their opportunities.

The survey also found that it was not true that only a few powerful women held a majority of directorships in South Africa. Of the 278 women directors, the majority - 84,2% - held only one directorship.

Two women in the group, Elizabeth Bradley and Danisa Baloyi, held six and five directorships respectively.

Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We need to take steps to position women in their rightful place ... Just look at BEE (black economic empowerment) - there was a lot of resistance in the past; now it is the done thing."

Unisa professor of business leadership Stella Nkomo said companies needed to examine "old-fashioned" ideas that a person could advance in a company only after being there for a long time.

Excluded Women Demand Fair Share in the Boardroom

Business Report
21 April 2005
By Jenni Evans

According to a corporate leadership census, men still hold the power in the boardrooms, with women filling only 6.2 percent of company chief executive and board chair seats in South Africa.

"Over half of South African companies have no women directors at all," Namane Magau, the president of the Businesswomen's Association, said at yesterday's release of a study the association commissioned.

According to the survey, South African Women in Corporate Leadership, although women make up 52 percent of the total population and 41 percent of those are employed, they constitute only 19.8 percent of all executive managers and 10.7 percent of directors.

The study also found that the majority of directorships - 48.4 percent - were held by black women, with white women holding 43.8 percent, coloured women 4.9 percent and Indian women 3.2 percent.

However, of the executive directorships held by women, 80 percent were held by whites.

The survey of every company listed on the JSE Securities Exchange and 17 of the largest state-owned enterprises in South Africa showed that state enterprises were leading the pack with more women on boards, and that the largest and oldest private companies were doing the poorest.

The census showed a 5.1 percent increase in the number of executive managers and a 3.6 percent increase in the number of directors from last year, with South African businesswomen better represented than their counterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Commenting on the census, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We need to take steps to position women in their rightful place ... in important entities that move this country forward."

People often thought it would be difficult to find such women, and that women were not skilled. "But they are there and can be found and put into positions where they can do better than men," he said.

The challenge was to ensure that men became the champions of the empowerment of women.

Ramaphosa said that because of the influence that men had had over the ages, there was a need for men to be conscientised.

"Just look at black economic empowerment. There was a lot of resistance in the past ... now it is the done thing - you have got to do it."

Unisa professor of business leadership Stella Nkomo said companies also needed to examine some "old fashioned" ideas that a person could advance in a company only after being there for a long time.

Men Have the Power

Pretoria News
21 April 2005

According to a corporate leadership census, men still hold the power in the boardrooms, with women filling only 6,2% of company chief executive and boardroom seats in South Africa.

"Over half of South African companies have no women directors at all," said Namane Magau, president of the Businesswomen's Association.

According to the South African Women in Corporate Leadership survey, although women make up 52% of the total population and 41% of employed people, they constitute only 19,8% of all executive managers and 10,7% of directors.

But South African businesswomen are better represented than their counterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Commenting on the census, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said: "We need to take steps to position women in their rightful place." - Sapa

Women make up only 6% of Boards

Citizen
21 April 2005

Only 6.2% of company chief executives and board chairman in South Africa are women, a survey released by the Businesswomen's Association revealed yesterday.

Although they form 41.3% of the working population, women constitute only 19.8% of all executive managers and 10.7% of directors.

This is a 5.1% increase in the number of directors. Of the 306 directorships held by women, 48.4% are held by black women.

Meer vroue het poste op top-vlak

Beeld: Sake-Beeld
21 April 2005

Net 19,8% van alle uitvoerende bestuurslui, 10,7% van alle direksielede en 6,2% van uitvoerende hoofde en direksievoorsitters van groot maatskappye in Suid-Afrika is vroue, hoewel 52,1% van die totale volwasse bevolking en 41,3% van die arbeidsmag in die land vroue is. Die syfers van die 2005-ser-sus oor vroue in korporatiewe leiersposisies, wat deur die Vereniging van Sakevroue met behulp van EmpowerDEX en Nedbank gedoen word, toon nietemin 'n styging in die verteenwoordiging van vroue op top-vlak. Volgens die sensus verlede jaar was 14,7% van die uitvoerende bestuurslui en 7,1% van direksielede vroue.

Dit beteken in hierdie twee kategoriee was daar die afgelope jaar persentasiepuntstygings van onderskeidelik 5,1 en 3,6. Die nuutste sensus toon daar is 278 vroue-direksielede wat 306 direkteurskappe uit altesame 2 851 beklee. Van die 306 direkteurskappe word 48,4% deur swart vroue beklee, 43,8% deur wit vroue, 4,6% deur bruin vroue en 3,2% deur Indier-vroue.

Die sensus het bevind dit lyk asof vroue makliker voorsitter van `n direksie ?s uitvoerende hoof van `n groot maatskappy word. Daar is altesame 15 vrouevoorsitters van direksies en 8 (2,2%) vroue- uitvoerende hoofde. Verlede jaar was daar 11 vroue-direksievoorsitters en 7 vroue- uitvoerende hoofde. Die sensus noem `n paar maatskappye waar vroue meer ?s 25% van die direkteursposte sowel ?s uitvoerende bestuursposte beklee. H?lle is Adonis Knitwear, Auilla Growth, Buildmax, die DataPro Group, die Ontwikkelingsbank van Suider-Afrika, ER.com, Infowave, Insurance Outsourcing Managers, Nictus Beperk, Paracon, Petra Mining, die SABC, die SA Poskantoor, die TransCaledon-tonnelowerheid, Terexo en Tisec.

Minder as 20% van SA kantoorbase is vroue

Sake Burger
21 April 2005

Net 19,8% van alle uitvoerende bestuurslui, 10,7% van alle direksielede en 6,2% van uitvoerende hoofde en direksievoorsitters van groot maatskappye in Suid-Afrika is vroue - hoewel 52,1% van die totale volwasse bevolking en 41,3% van die arbeidsmag in die land vroulik is. Die syfers van die 2005-sensus oor vroue in korporatiewe leierskapposisies, wat deur die vereniging van sakevroue met behulp van EmpowerDEX en Nedbank gedoen word, toon nietemin `n styging in die verteenwoordiging van vroue op top-vlak. Volgens die 2004-sensus was 14,7% van die uitvoerende bestuurslui en 7,1% van direksielede vroue, wat beteken die afgelope jaar was daar in die twee kategoriee persentasiepunt-stygings van onderskeidelik 5,1 en 3,6.

Die sensus is gedoen onder genoteerde maatskappye en 17 van die grootste staatskorporasies. Diejongste sensus toon daar is 278 vroulike direksielede wat 306 direkteurskappe uit `n totaal van 2 851 beklee. Van die 306 direkteurskappe word 48,4% deur swart vroue beklee, 43,8% deur wit vroue, 4,6% deur bruin vroue en 3,2% deur Indiervroue. Die sensus het bevind dit lyk of vroue makliker voorsitter van `n direksie ?s uitvoerende hoof van `n groot maatskappy word. Daar is altesame 15 vroulike voorsitters van direksies en 8 (2,2%) vroulike uitvoerende hoofde. Maatskappye waarin vroue meer ?s 25% van die direkteursposte sowel ?s uitvoerende bestuursposte beklee, is Adonis Knitwear, Aquilla Growth, Buildmax, DataPro Group, Ontwikkelingsbank van Suider-Afrika, ER.com, Infowave, Insurance Outsourcing Managers, Nictus, Paracon, Petra Mining, SABC, SA Poskantoor, TransCaledon Tonnelowerheid, Terexo en Tisec.

Girls Just Wanna.... Run a Company

Sowetan, Phumza Macanda
21 April 2005

Black women in South Africa have a better chance of being company directors than being chief executive officers. Their chances of being in senior management are enhanced if they work for state-owned enterprises rather than the private sector. This came out of the Businesswomens Association's (BWA) Census 2005, released yesterday. Launched last year, the census measures the number of women in executive and nonexecutive positions in corporate South Africa and in state-owned enterprises.

It revealed that although South African women were still underrepresented in the boardroom, the proportions are 4% higher than those in the US. BWA president Dr Namane Magau says state-owned enterprises in South Africa lead the pack in fasttracking the empowerment of women in the country. This year's census has gone further to include the status of women directors, as well as the race of women directors and executive managers. "Although women are underrepresented in South African boardrooms, the country has managed to make significant strides in changing this," Magau says.

In the past year, the number of women in executive management and directorship positions has increased. Last year women constituted only 14,7 % of all executive management and only 7,1 % of all directors. This year there is a 5,1 % and 3,6 % increase respectively. There are only 15 female chairs of boards in South Africa, up from eleven last year. The number of women CEOs has increased by one to eight this year, and four of those are in stateowned enterprises.

Black women are more likely to be company directors than white women, while this is different at CEO level. Black women only hold two of the eight women CEO positions in the country. Of the 306 directorships held by women, black women hold the most - at 48,4 %- while white women hold 43,8 %. Nolitha Fakude, group strategy and corporate affairs manager at sponsor Nedbank said companies should use the census to develop a strategy for gender equity, "While the BWA Census 2005 should not divide black and white women, it does highlight that there should be a special focus in dealing with the black women's issues of race, gender and culture," says Magau.

Glass ceiling still being felt: survey

The Citizen, Felicity Duncan
21 April 2005

Although South African women have made some major strides over the past few years, there is a long way to go before women can say the glass ceiling is shattered. The Nedbank / Businesswomens Association SA Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2005, released yesterday, shows that women constitute 19,8% of executive managers and 10,7% of directors of the 372 companies surveyed.

The companies included 355 JSE-listed entities and 17 large state-owned enterprises. These figures are an improvement on last year's comparable figures of 14,7% and 7,1% respectively, but still leave much to be desired considering that 41,3% of the working population is female. Interestingly, of the women directors, 48,4% are black women, while 43,8% are white, 5% are coloured and 3% Indian. This is perhaps a reflection of the emphasis many sectoral charters have placed on having black women on boards, and of the high points awarded for such directors on empowerment scorecards.

Of the almost 20% of executive managers who are female, 83,8% are white, 8,3% are black, 2,2% are coloured and 5,8% are Indian. This is a reflection of the historical tendency to favour white women over black women; it takes years to groom executive managers. The best employers for women are state-owned enterprises, with a high level of both female directors (35%) and executive managers (31%). The worst industries are consumer goods, financial services and resources. The survey is a useful benchmark, and the very fact that there is accurate measurement of women's representation encourages companies to focus on their empowerment, survey panellists said.

Men Still Calling the Shots in Boardroom

The Herald
21 April 2005
By Jenni Evans

Survey shows women make up only 10pm of directors

Johannesburg - According to a corporate leadership census, men still hold the power in the boardrooms, with women filling only 6.2% of company chief executive and board chairmanships in South Africa.

"more than half of South African companies have no women directors at all," said Namane Magau, president of the Businesswomen's Association, at yesterday's release of a study the association had commissioned.

According to the SA Women in Corporate Leadership survey, although women make up 52% of the total population and 41% of those are employed, they constitute only 19.8% of all executive managers and 10.7% of directors.

The study also found that the majority of directorships - 48.4% - are held by black women, with white women holding 43.8%, 4.9% by coloured women and 3.2% by indian women. However, 80% of executive directorship positions are held by white women.

The survey of every JSE-listed company and 17 of the largest state-owned enterprises in South Africa, showed that state entereprises were leading the pack, with more women on boards, and that the largest and oldest private companies were doing the poorest.

The census showed a 5.1% increase in the number of executive managers and a 3.6% increase in the number of directors from last year, with South African businesswomen better represented than their counterparts in Canada, the US and Australia.

Commenting on the census, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa said; "We need to take steps to position women in their rightful place... in important entities that move this country forward."

People often thought it would be difficult to find such women, and that women were not skilled. "But they are there and can be found and put into positions where they can do better than men," he said.

Asked why he felt it important to have a special mind set to hire women, Ramaphosa replied that because of the influence that men had had over the ages, there was a need for men to be made aware of what was right." - Sapa

Few Women

Cape Argus
20 April 2005

Only 6.2% of company chief executives and board chairs in South Africa are women, a survey released by the Businesswomen's Association revealed today.

Keeping Tabs on Women's Empowerment

Sowetan
20 April 2005
By Phumza Macanda

Today sees the launch of the South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2005, which gives one of the clearest measures of exactly how empowered women are.

The census is an initiative of the Businesswomen's Association of South Africa and Nedbank. Association CEO Tina Thomson said it measured the transformation of South African firms and the extent of women's empowerment.

Women make up 52% of the adult population but only make up 41% of the employed population.

The association was launched in 2000 as an amlagamation of three women's bodies: the Executive Women's Club, the Professional Women's Leadership Development Organisation and the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Labour force statistics show women make up 52% of the adult population in South Africa, but they only make up41% of the employed population. The 2004 Businesswomen's Association Census revealed that women tended to be in lower-paid jobs, making up only 14.7% of all executive managers. Only 7.1% of seats on boards of directors in the country were held by women.

The trade and industry departments head of gender and women empowerment, Mmabatho Matiwane, said the census highlighted that the business community had not looked seriously at empowering women. "The corporate world has focused on employing mainly black men to comply with empowerment, and few women are appointed in key senior management positions.