South African businesses need to empower more women

Christelle Colman, CEO of MUA Insurance Acceptances.

When a company has more women on its board of directors, it can generate a 36% higher return on equity, according to the findings of a survey released by MSCI, a US based independent provider of insights and tools for institutional investors, in December last year. In light of International Women’s Day celebrated on the 8th of March, Christelle Colman, CEO of MUA Insurance Acceptances, states that this research clearly indicates the benefits for companies to have more women in leadership positions.

She points to a local report, the 2015 South African Women in Leadership Census released by the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa which indicates that only 8.79% of JSE-listed companies have 25% or more female in director positions. “Women are still extremely underrepresented in leadership positions, particularly in the financial services industry,” says Colman.

She says there are a number of reasons why relatively few women occupy top level positions in South Africa’s boardrooms. “While it may seem controversial to say so, many women choose not to occupy higher positions in the business world due to gender stereotypes which demands that women fulfil all the duties of being the homemaker or that in certain industries they are simply not as capable as a man to fulfill the role. As with any kind of discrimination, gender stereotyping hinders all of us from reaching our goals.”

She believes that in order to overcome gender stereotypes in the workplace, it is absolutely critical to acknowledge they do exist. “A good place to start is by teaching our children not to treat people differently based on their gender. By changing the way we see things, we can change the career paths of our future generations. There is constant pressure to manage our talent pools; when we extend our view beyond what is traditionally acceptable for certain genders we increase the talent pool immediately.”

“The challenge of gender stereotypes is not to be solved by female business leaders only, but by the business and larger society in its entirety. It is about being well-informed on the topic of gender stereotyping, embracing the differences of individuals and most importantly playing to the strengths of the individual regardless of his or her gender,” states Colman.

Nowadays, we live and work in a world where there is real focus on relationships and inclusiveness, rather than separation and victory, she says. “Today’s modern person must be able to cope with rapid change and the unexpected. Those who can handle complexity and perform lots of tasks at once tend to be the ones who are succeeding.”

“Society’s stereotypical roles for women are maternal, nurturing, warm and caring individuals. But when the pressure is on and a female leader has to motivate her team to perform, this stereotype is challenged. This often results in her being perceived as acting too assertively or too hard on her team members. These conations are most probably as a result of society reacting to women who deviate from the way that society suggests that females should behave.”

She believes that women who are achieving successes in a male dominated world are often labelled as ‘too aggressive’, ‘too independent’, ‘not approachable’ or ‘difficult to deal with’. As a result, these successful women in leadership positions are being criticised for the very behaviour that has brought them their success in the first place.

“It is important, however, that businesses do begin to appreciate the value of having women in executive positions. Women bring a different dynamic to the boardroom and can offer a fresh perspective on how business is conducted. However, in order to facilitate further female representation at board level in South Africa, companies need to accommodate the differing needs of women,” concludes Colman.