Women battle to achieve executive status

Women in the SA freight
industry, and industry in
general, are battling to achieve
executive status.
Recent research findings
from the international,
independent audit, tax
and advisory firm Grant
Thornton, highlighted that job
diversity globally was actually
declining. This despite the
fact that, according to a
Grant Thornton statement,
diversity is good for businesses
– “encouraging different
ways of thinking and opening
new growth opportunities”.
As proof of this, its 2016
Women in Business report
said that “recent research
highlights how companies
with diverse boards among
the largest listed companies
in the UK, US and India are
outperforming their
male-only peers to the tune of
US$655 billion annually”.
And, in SA, the percentage
of women in senior
management positions
recorded a significant drop
from 27% last year – even
falling below the average
of 26% achieved between
2004 and 2015. Although
women constitute over half
of the population, the local
research showed that they
now hold only 23% of senior
management positions and
39% of local businesses do
not have any women at all in
leadership positions.
“We are beginning to lose
a very important battle,” said
Lee-Anne Bac, director of
advisory services at Grant
Thornton. “The gender
diversity issue has been on the
SA agenda for many years but
we’re clearly not making any
headway here.”
Kim Botti, director of
freight industry employment
specialists, Lee Botti &
Associates, expressed similar
sentiments. “However,”
she told FTW, “as SA faces
a challenging time with
political and economic
uncertainty, we see many
of our clients in the freight
industry employing purely
on skills in a skills-shortage
market. There is little
attention focused on diversity,
as opposed to getting the
right person for the job at this
critical time, where profit and
figures are the main area of
focus.”
She added that there was
a greater drive for black
economic empowerment
(BEE) employment when
required, but little focus
on female management roles.