NUMBER OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP RISES-REPORT
Grant Thornton Women in Business report indicates that the number of women holding senior leadership positions in mid-market businesses globally, increased to 31 percent despite the pandemic affecting economies around the world.
The report highlights that 39 percent of senior management positions in African businesses are held by women, higher than global average of 31 percent and this average has steadily risen from 23 percent in 2015 to 39 percent in 2021. “52 percent of African businesses believe that new working practices as a result of COVID-19 have enabled women in business to play greater leadership roles and 97 percent say they are taking action to ensure the engagement and inclusion of their employees against the negative backdrop of the pandemic,” states the report. Grant Thornton Botswana Managing Partner, Kalyanaraman Vijay said the continued increase of women in senior roles globally and in Africa is an important milestone for businesses, but not the end goal. She is of the view that those businesses that want to reap the benefits of a better gender balance, must continue to take action to enable women to realise their ambitions, through and beyond the pandemic. “Seeing the proportion of women leaders rise to 39 percent in African businesses and 31 percent globally is encouraging, given that it passes the important 30 percent threshold, which research shows is the minimum representation needed to change decision-making processes,” she said. All regions surveyed have surpassed the 30 percent milestone except for Asia-Pacific which scored 28 percent. Grant Thornton’s research reveals higher numbers of women across operational C-suite roles compared to last year, with the proportion of female CEOs up from four percent to 26 percent, female CFOs increased from seven percent to 43 percent and female COOs increased from three percent to 23 percent. Additionally, 52 percent of African businesses believe that new working practices as a result of COVID-19 have enabled women in business to play greater leadership roles. Furthermore, 78 percent of African businesses agree that in their organisations, new working practices as a result of COVID-19 will benefit women’s career trajectories’ long-term, despite potentially hindering factors which may be down to the flexibility that remote working offers.
While the number of women in leadership roles has grown, questions remain over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, particularly working mothers. United Nations data shows that, before the pandemic, women did three times as much unpaid housework as men, and the evidence indicates that COVID-19 is only increasing this disparity as well as adding the extra responsibilities of childcare and home schooling while schools are closed. Vijay said reaching 39 percent certainly does represent progress having grown from 25 percent 15 years ago when Grant Thornton first started tracking the survey but warns that these gains can easily be lost. “Reassuringly, 97 percent of African businesses say they are taking action to ensure the engagement and inclusion of their employees against the negative backdrop of the pandemic and with the normalisation of remote working, employers are becoming ever more flexible about how, where and when employees do their jobs. Now more than ever, businesses need to stay focused on what is enabling women to progress to leadership positions, so that women move forward rather than back as a result of the global pandemic.”