Women’s efforts for equality see a shift in SA’s landscape

Johannesburg - Women across South Africa have made many strides in advocating for equality, yet gender inequality is still rife in the workplace.

The push for representation and innovation should not only reach women (young and old) when they start working or get promoted to positions of power, said Tambu Ndoro of the Graça Machel Trust.

It has to be a community effort, with women doing their part, as well as men.

“Innovation must strive to reach women and girls wherever they are. Women should not only represent, but must also be impactful in their role in accelerating and bringing more women up into C-Suite roles," Ndoro said.

Ndoro’s view has ties to the motivation behind attorney Feziwe Phungula’s decision to study law. Phungula was admitted to the Natal Provincial Division of the High Court of South Africa in 2006.

Phungula said that her career choice was motivated by her childhood, where she was raised by a single mother. Her mother worked as a school teacher while she completed her studies and looked after her and her siblings, with no financial support.

“I thought that maybe if I became a lawyer I might be able to assist women in situations like hers,” she said.

Phungula’s view is that the legal sector is slow to change, but has found progress in the power structures within. She is the only black woman director (out of five) at Mncedisi Ndlovu and Sedumedi Attorneys in Johannesburg.

She said much of the representation within the judiciary and the director spaces in the legal sector had shifted since she joined, and that although the percentage is still small, it is significant for future women lawyers across different racial backgrounds.

Phungula said the appointments of Janine Myburgh as chairperson to the national Legal Practice Council and the appointment of Justice Mandisa Maya as the new Deputy Chief Justice in the Constitutional Court were big steps that could galvanise women lawyers to aim high.

“It inspires us to say ‘she has done it’ and, therefore, we must work hard. She was appointed not just because she was a woman, but because of her record and experience at the Supreme Court of Appeal,” Phungula said.

“For the country to show that there is progress in the acknowledgement of women, her appointment puts a stamp on that. Especially in the legal fraternity since we have few women in high positions,” she said.

In the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, Takalani Netshitenzhe felt that her sector has made fast progress at enacting change, but not in the dismantling of prejudices that drive women away from working in the sector. Netshitenzhe is the director of external affairs at Vodacom and a pioneer for socio-economic transformation and gender equality.

Netshitenzhe said that her country folk still needed to recognise that they were a long way from reaching gender equality. Specifically, in the technology industry, women remain in the minority, which is in dissonance with inclusion for all.

“We need to ask what is preventing women from forging careers in technology and what is making them abandon them soon after.

“The growing body of research highlights the positive effects of diversity and inclusivity in organisations, such as increased innovation, employee satisfaction, and higher returns, but there are prejudices that continue to persist, even into the 21st century. This is gender bias and toxic masculinity.

“Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies need to take action to support, retain and empower women within their own organisations,” Netshitenzhe said.

A 2021 Alliance for Global Inclusion survey of global tech companies revealed on average that tech workforces were 72% male and 28% female. This disparity is compounded by non-white women, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (LBT), and women with disabilities who typically may face steeper barriers in the sector — due to how intersectionality effects are mitigated by South Africa’s cultural make-up.

Netshitenzhe emphasised the engagement of school girls in STEM subjects and dismantled gender-specific expectations that may influence the next generation.

She said that access (from a grassroots level) to technology, literacy, and numeracy skills to use digital tools (coding programmes) to their benefit, would help to push interest and confidence in the subjects leading up to their possible opportunities.

“Building an inclusive future where women are valued and empowered as equal participants in the digital age is possible, but only if we collectively work together to end gender inequalities that exist, particularly in STEM,” she said.