South Africa celebrates Women’s Month in August—a time to spotlight and honour the contributions of women across various fields. This year, we focus on women in leadership, exploring their unique strengths and the challenges they face. Despite progress, women continue to encounter significant barriers that hinder their advancement to top leadership positions.
The Current Landscape for Women in Leadership
KPMG’s Women in Leadership: South African Perspective report highlights areas needing improvement. Although South Africa leads many G20 countries in gender diversity due to the JSE’s gender and diversity targets introduced in 2015, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles. Women hold just 29% of board positions in the top 100 listed companies and only 17% of top executive roles.
To address this gap, proactive measures are essential. Corporations should focus on fostering specialized skills, creating diverse nomination processes, setting clear targets, and reporting progress. An inclusive environment that supports women is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. Viewing diversity as a key factor impacting the bottom line is vital for organisational success.
Debunking Myths About Women in the Workplace
McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2023 report challenges several myths about women’s roles at work:
- Women’s Ambition: Contrary to the belief that women are becoming less ambitious, the report shows that women are more ambitious than before the pandemic. Increased flexibility has allowed women to balance their personal and professional lives better, fueling their career aspirations.
- The ‘Glass Ceiling’: The greatest barrier to women’s advancement is not the glass ceiling but the ‘broken rung’ at the first step to managerial roles. Women face significant obstacles at this initial promotion stage, which affects their progression to higher levels. This issue is more pronounced for women of colour.
- Microaggressions: These seemingly minor offenses have a significant and lasting impact on women, leading to stress, decreased psychological safety, and higher burnout rates. Women from marginalised identities experience these microaggressions more frequently, which can hinder their career advancement.
- Flexibility Benefits: Flexibility in work arrangements is valued by both men and women and is crucial for company success. Women, due to their disproportionate childcare and household responsibilities, particularly benefit from flexible work options.
“It’s important to have women in leadership positions, because our experiences are different from those of the men we serve with and that helps us identify problems we can fix.” – Tammy Duckworth
The Benefits of Women in Leadership
Women leaders bring substantial value to organisations:
Performance: Diverse leadership teams often outperform their peers financially. Gender-diverse executive teams drive superior financial results and foster greater innovation.
Impact: Diversity enhances not just financial performance but also social impact, community engagement, and environmental responsibility. It also improves workforce satisfaction and adaptability.
Enhanced Decision-Making: Women in leadership roles contribute to better decision-making by seeking diverse opinions and asking pertinent questions. This approach strengthens corporate governance and organisational effectiveness.
Attracting Talent: A commitment to diversity is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent, particularly among younger generations like Gen-Z, who prioritise diversity and inclusion in their career choices.
“We have a problem with women in leadership across the board. This leadership gap – this problem of not enough women in leadership – is running really deep and it’s in every industry. My answer is we have to understand the stereotype assumptions that hold women back.” – Sheryl Sandberg
Addressing Barriers to Women’s Leadership
Women often face barriers that hinder their development as leaders:
- Fragile Leadership Identity: Women may struggle to internalise a leadership identity and seek affirmation from others, which is essential for building confidence and pursuing leadership opportunities.
- Subtle Gender Bias: Persistent stereotypes and biases disrupt women’s leadership development. Cultural mismatches between traditional leadership qualities and perceptions of women can further impede their progress.
- Lack of Supportive Context: Traditional organisational practices, such as mentoring, often fall short of addressing the specific challenges women face. Women need supportive “identity workspaces” to develop and receive constructive feedback.
- Double Bind: Women often encounter a competence-likability trade-off, where being seen as competent can negatively affect their likability. Mixed performance feedback can also be demoralising.
- Limited Access to Strategic Roles: Men are frequently given strategic roles, while women are often assigned operational ones, limiting their leadership opportunities. Networking challenges also impact women’s career progression.
- Focus on Image Management: Efforts to enhance women’s executive presence often focus on superficial aspects rather than developing a genuine leadership identity. Overinvestment in managing perceptions can detract from meaningful leadership goals.
- Underrepresentation and Sponsorship: The scarcity of powerful women to support emerging leaders perpetuates the status quo. Women near the top face increased scrutiny, which can hinder their leadership development.
Overcoming Perceptions and Embracing Leadership Strengths
Women in leadership roles face misconceptions about their capabilities and styles. Overcoming these barriers involves everyone in the organisation – men and women – focusing on::
- Authentic and Collaborative Leadership: Emphasise the effectiveness of authentic and collaborative leadership style in achieving results, communicating that all leaders have a unique blend of masculine and feminine archetypes and countering stereotypes of women as too collaborative.
- Executive Presence: Trusted advisors can help women navigate the balance between confidence and decisiveness, avoiding labels of insensitivity or aggression.
- Authentic Leadership: Leaning into Empathy: Balancing firmness with empathy showcases diverse leadership qualities, demonstrating the value of empathy in leadership roles.
- Showcasing Effort: Highlighting the effort behind achievements can help women gain recognition and respect, countering perceptions of effortless success.
- Challenging Likability Trap: Questioning feedback that reflects unconscious bias can create space for more equitable evaluation and recognition.
Conclusion
After Women’s Month, it’s essential to continue to recognise the significant benefits women leaders bring to organisations. Diverse perspectives, approaches, and skills enrich decision-making, foster innovation, and create more inclusive environments. Supporting and promoting women in leadership not only enhances organisational success but also paves the way for a more equitable future for all. In these challenging, volatile times, we need all the leaders we can rally!
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