Challenges still exist in women’s upward mobility in business

THIS Women’s Month, let me put the spotlight on women in business.

While attempting not to burst the bubble of aspirant businesswomen, I must confess being a woman in business is no walk in the park.

In this historically significant period of our women’s struggle 61 years ago, to fight for the human rights of men, women and children, I am sharing my work experience and role in business with the hope that my story will inspire women, especially younger women and graduates, to kick-start their own businesses, thereby empowering others financially and socially.

Fifteen years ago, I broke into a male-dominated industry of lighting and electrical as one of the first female entrepreneurs to venture into this highly contested sector.

The Old Boys’ clubs were still at the round table when I joined the lighting, cabling and electrical sector 35 years ago. They are still around today. I am making a clarion call for the industry to be transformed to embrace women, so we can also secure a fair slice of the retail and wholesale business.

Today, women still earn 15% less than men for doing the same job.

The challenges are often countless and complex.

They are also now different since the 1956 march by 20 000 brave women to the citadel of apartheid.

Thankfully, their protest against the unjust pass laws paved the way for the freedom we all enjoy today in a democracy.

It is therefore gratifying that this landmark leverage against formal apartheid has been immortalised into an official public holiday as National Women’s Day.

Within this epic historical context, women must use this strategic platform to campaign for greater gains to get a firm foothold in a volatile business world.

On the other hand, most women, including single mothers and breadwinners, are compelled to work on a public holiday set aside for them to celebrate this milestone.

As women in business and civil society, we can only build on the legacy of the women’s struggle, past and present, and use this event to showcase the activities of women in commerce, trade and industry.

We could start with a boot camp for women in the lighting, electrical and construction industry.

Other industries could follow suit and chart the way forward for women to become equal partners in sectors of the economy.

However, more than two decades later, South Africa is still one of the most unequal societies in the world.

The business sector is no different, albeit with some considerable changes since the dawn of democracy.

Women are gradually occupying influential positions in the private sector and government.

The current challenge is to create opportunities for women and female graduates to be ushered into the spectrum of business activities.

Conditions need to improve for women to take calculated risks, roll up their sleeves and join the business brigade.

Business is not for the faint-hearted.

It’s a tough world out there and requires will-power, business mindedness, resilience, savvy, motivation, energy and drive to survive daily hurdles. I would rather take the route of the glass being half full.

With the challenges and stresses of running your own business comes independence, financial edge and rewards as a roleplayer in a competitive economic landscape.

Also, my personal perspective is that the proverbial “glass ceiling” that is glued to this narrative of women advancement, locally and globally, is tough to shatter, but cracks have started to appear in this imaginary manmade barrier that frustrates women’s upward mobility in the private and public sectors.

I must say that my work experience in this industry, as well as banking and retail brand marketing, has held me in good stead when I finally went on my own.

I have since made it my mission to lead the campaign for greater women empowerment in a multi-billion-rand sector dominated by men.

From my experience in the industry, there are more men than women wearing hard hats on the project sites and the supply chain management in the private and public sectors.

I had to learn the hard way that there is a clear demand for change and innovation.

Success and sustainability is key to women-led business.

The whole industry, including electrical infrastructures and new developments, provides uncharted waters for women.

The blue skies are no longer a limit.

From the top end, women have the potential to become business leaders – whether graduating as electrical engineers and/or training as electricians.

Fortunately, I gained a foothold in an industry that became my destiny after completing a marketing diploma at a technikon.

The market is still exclusively dominated by the “Old Boys”.

It’s unusual to have a black woman in the industry, but I have persevered.

As decision-makers and home-builders, women could play a dynamic role in meeting the demands of the unfolding, new social and economic lifestyles of a changing society.

But, for women to succeed, they have to be resilient, resourceful and willing to take calculated risks.

Perseverance, trust, integrity and luck are key to surviving and sustaining a business.

Business is competitive and South Africa is in a technical recession with a volatile economic outlook.

Hailed as the builders of society, women also need to get their act together on tackling a myriad of social ills doing the rounds: never-ending violence against women and wife-battering that adversely affects productivity in the workplace; drug and alcohol abuse; unemployment.

Are the sisters fighting in the same trenches?

Or will women stand accused of the pulling-her-down syndrome?

Women have to rally to build a better society. Women must lift each other up and show others the way to leading productive and progressive lives.

Mentoring and motivating women could pave the way for women to get involved in business successfully and profitably, thereby creating a better life for themselves and society.