The fact that in 2016, we still have to be told that “women matter” indicates that the whole world is in dire need of re-education on gender and leadership. In August, Mckinsey released a study on women in leadership roles and how they impact organisational health and financial performance.
The report uses information gathered from 14 countries, half of which are African. It also uses interviews of 35 African women leaders, as well as a survey of 55 companies in Africa.The report looks at the impact of women in government and in the private sector. The goal of the report is to provide a fact base that helps organisations to understand the benefits of gender diversity in the top levels of management.
According to the report, Africa’s private sector has the most women in CEO, executive committee and board roles in companies than the rest of the world. However, women are still underrepresented in non-management, middle and senior management roles. Additionally, only 5% of women in Africa make it to the very top – the number of women in leadership roles falls as they climb higher on the corporate ladder.
Here are some other key statistics to take from the report:
The report finds that Africa is performing well in the private sector in comparison to international standards, with a higher percentage of women executive committee members, CEOs, and board members than average.
The global average of executive committee positions held by women stands at 20%, whereas in Africa, it is 23%. Globally, 4% of women hold CEO-level positions but in Africa, 5% of women are CEOs. This places the continent on the same level as the US. At the board level, African women are also slightly ahead at 14% compared to the global average of 13%.
While these statistics show that African women are ahead in leadership positions, the differences are very slight in comparison to the global averages.
Women representation also differs by region. The region with the least representation on the boards of African companies is North Africa. Only 9% of North African women are on company boards in comparison to 11% in West Africa, 16% in East Africa and 20% in Southern Africa.
The report also identified that different sectors were more favourable to representing women in senior executive roles.
The sector with the highest female executives is the Healthcare sector, where 39% of such positions are held by women. Telecoms and Tech come second with 33% representation, while 30% of senior executive positions in Financial and Professional services are held by women.
The sector with the least female executives is Heavy Industry (the manufacture of large and heavy equipment and facilities) with only 9% of women holding senior executive roles, confirming that gender stereotypes are shaping how far women can go professionally in that sector.
The same pattern was repeated looking at women’s representation on boards of African companies. The highest remained Healthcare, while the lowest was Heavy Industry.
African women account for 47% of non-management professional positions. At the middle management level, this figure drops to 40% and at senior management level to 29%. This means that between mid-management roles and senior management roles, a lot of women fall off. This indicates that while African women are ahead in comparison to the rest of the world, it is still a challenge to rise to senior management roles.
Men make 55% of the workforce and get 64% of promotions. On the other hand, women make 45% of the workforce and get 36% of promotions in the 55 companies surveyed by Mckinsey. Numbers are not a true indication of influence. The report highlights that in the private sector, most women managers hold staff roles as opposed to line roles. As a result, they are not exposed to core operations, promotions to CEO positions and decision-making forums.
There is still a huge pay gap between men and women. In South Africa, for example, women board members earn 17% less than their male counterparts.
Why is all this information important to you?
Female talent is largely underutilised both in the public and private sectors and this has a direct impact on performance. Women are often given less credit for their accomplishments than men and criticised more for failures. This makes women less likely to ask for promotions.
Gender issues are not prioritised in workplaces and the challenges that women face are largely misunderstood. As a result, it becomes impossible to adequately address gender imbalances. Women face a myriad of challenges in workplaces ranging from the attitudes towards women in the workplace to the “double burden” of career and domestic responsibilities and policies that do not encourage female leadership.
The solution begins with an understanding of the reality of gender biases in work culture, followed by a conscious prioritisation of gender diversity on the agendas of CEOs.
CEOs must set targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) for women’s representation in leadership and review these targets regularly. Companies have to track gender pay gaps and their causes, to understand where and how to act.
Finally, companies must ensure that their HR policies include measures to deal with discriminatory behaviour.
The report identifies three ways in which women enhance decision making. Firstly, where male board members rely on normative reasoning, women are likely to be more innovative, open to new ideas and a broader range of solutions. Secondly, women collaborate, build consensus and take the interests of different stakeholders into account. Women are also more likely to make fair decisions when competing interests are at stake than men.
Women not only matter in the workplace, women are essential.
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