“We shall not rest until we have won for all our sisters the right to the enjoyment of democracy, equality, peace and development,” South African women’s declaration during the 09 August 1956 march.

In our country the month of August is inundated with a myriad of august occasions reminding us of the need to accelerate endeavours aimed at promoting gender transformation.

It all started in 1956 when women of all hues took to the streets in defiance of the pass laws. This demonstration of unity in action and purpose is well chronicled in the annals of our history. Most importantly, it serves as a beacon of light regarding the necessity of gender equality.

Our embracing the emancipation of women should be wide-ranging - it should not be a parochial exercise confined to gender issues exclusively. It is all about creating a normal society.

For instance the triple oppression of African women - as a race, gender and class - is still one of the main challenges facing our body politic and economic landscape.

Given that economic empowerment is among the priority projects of the incumbent dispensation, it is imperative to put the progress of women in the corporate world under prism.
According to the latest annual Business Women Association (BWA) survey entitled South African Women in Corporate Leadership Census 2007 focusing on 335 local companies, of which 318 are listed on the JSE Securities Exchange and the remaining 17 are state-owned enterprises, there are serious gaps regarding the extent to which women have been empowered in both the private and public sectors.

The key findings of the survey provide a stark contrast between corporate South Africa and Government in terms of the empowerment of women. These include:

Corporate South Africa

• While women constitute 51% of the adult population in the country and only 42% of the working population, yet they make up a paltry 25.3% of all executive managers and a mere 14% of all directors.
• A total number of female Chief Executive Officers have increased from seven to 13 - this represents a change of 1.9% to 3.9%.
• The number of female chairs of boards has increased from 11 to 13.This is an overall percentage increase from 3% to 3.9%.

Government

• The majority of women in Government across all salary levels are black. The highest percentage of 95.5% is in the bracket including cleaners and drivers.
• The KwaZulu-Natal province employs the highest number of women across all provinces, with 119 428 from a total of 649 718.
• In Government, women are still under-represented at senior management level. Men constitute an estimated 67.8% of the labour force while the remainder (32.2%) are women.

But still disconcerting is the negligible representation of women of all races in the accounting profession. Transformation in the accounting profession is taking place at a snail’s pace. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants ( SAICA) says out of a total of  27,047 chartered accountants (CA), there are only 931 black, 513 coloured and 2,019 Indian and only 6,822 are women.

However, it is crucial not to confine achievements solely to the miniscule representation on the local bourse or the admirable strides made within the public sector. The business fraternity must embrace as a norm, women-controlled and owned companies as a norm without any reservations whatsoever. The glass ceiling must be broken forthwith.

We should draw from the words of wisdom of management guru, Tom Peters, when he said: “Women are not just becoming increasingly important in the global marketplace as workers, but also as consumers, entrepreneurs, managers and investors.”

Sello Mabotja writes in his personal capacity.