It’s a matter of concern that gender battlesgoon
ARE WE THERE yet? The answer to this question depends on who you ask and what their political investment is in gender transformation. This applies equally to leadership practice and research on gender transformation within South African organisations. The answer also depends on whether one has the public or the corporate sector in mind.
On the one side of the debate are those who argue that enough has been done and gender is no longer an issue. Some go as far as to indicate that they are tired of hearing and talking about gender. In academia this sentiment manifests as some (male) professors trying to dissuade students from doing research on gender transformation. “This topic has been over researched… there is nothing new to be said… you will not be able make an original contribution.”
It seems not to matter to those professors that the students are usually senior female leaders whose interest in the topic is informed by their experiences at work, in particular the fact that current research insights are not sufficiently translating into meaningful transformation.
It is, to be sure, this persistent gap in practice that ongoing research must seek to address. Sadly, male authority still holds sway, even in academia. Rather than risk failure, therefore, some students simply change topics.
On the other side of the debate are people who acknowledge that some progress has indeed been made, especially in terms of representation at middle to senior levels of leadership. These practitioners and researchers, however, problematise the fact that the numbers of women leaders tend to dwindle the higher up one goes in the organisational hierarchies.
Not only are there fewer women appointed to the very apex of organisational structures, the few who make it tend not to last. It is not unusual for women in very senior positions, at least in corporate organisations and state-owned enterprises in South Africa, to resign before completing their contracts.
Own businesses
A common reason given for such premature departures is that the women want to pursue their own businesses. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this answer. Indeed, the country needs women entrepreneurs. To take the response at face value, however, and to fail to interrogate it further, would amount to dropping the proverbial ball. The possibility that there might be push factors that are also influencing such decisions cannot be ignored.
If gender transformation is to be sustainable, we need to hear the real stories behind women leaders’ experiences of their roles. This includes both positive and negative experiences. Only then can we hope to come up with reality based strategies for sustainable gender transformation within South African organisations.
Until women leaders share their experiences openly and candidly, insights from research will most likely amount to mere regurgitations of sanitised textbook explanations. These are the kinds of narratives that put a particular accent on the positive, while repressing less palatable, and perhaps embarrassing information.
These are the kinds of cognitive accounts that ignore beneath the surface data, and eschew touchy issues, including the fact that women are not a standardised mass, and race and class affect their experiences at work. To be sure, not only do black women have to contend with gender based negative experiences at work, they also have to deal with the ways in which their racial identity colours their leadership experiences.
There is also, at least for some black women from less privileged backgrounds, the burden of guilt and shame. It is as if such women are expected to be forever grateful for being “rescued”, as if they did not rightfully earn their positions.
As often intimated by those opposed to transformation, it is as if black women in senior positions are and can only ever be, affirmative action appointments only.
Leadership education and research have a pivotal role to play in advancing gender transformation. This includes the transformation of faculty and curricula, as well as a dominant research culture.
Peliwe Mnguni is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership at Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership and the programme leader of the Advanced Programme in Women Leadership.