www.catalystwomen.org  

As the largest association of business and professional women in South Africa, the Businesswomen's Association is committed to providing a dynamic forum that inspires and grows women in business - not only for the benefit of our members, but for the benefit of South African business. Many South African companies have made great strides in increasing the representation of women in the senior levels of their organisation. We recognise and applaud them. However, in the year of the 10th anniversary of democracy and the 25th anniversary of the Businesswoman of the Year Award, we felt it opportune to examine the degree to which women have made strides in all of South Africa's major corporates and state-owned enterprises. 

In order to do so, the BWA entered into a partnership with Catalyst, the leading businesswomen's organisation in the United States, to conduct a South African Census. 

In 1993, Catalyst began to produce an annual census to clarify the status of women on the boards of the largest companies in the United States. The census was designed to establish accurate statistics, to create a way to use the standard practice of benchmarking to promote women's advancement, and to apply the business principle of "what gets measured gets done". It has since expanded to allow Catalyst to better understand not only the status of women on boards, but also the status of women in executive management. It is currently being run in the United States, Canada and Australia. The Catalyst Census is the seminal study of its kind. The results and hypotheses that it has generated have merited ongoing acknowledgement and discussion in the countries where it has been undertaken and in leading international business publications, including the "Harvard Business Review" and "The Economist". 

The South African Census has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Nedbank. The results were released on the 29th April 2004 and have made interesting reading for all of South Africa's business leaders. Work is already underway for next year's census and it is already promising to be as valuable as the inaugural work.