TheBrief GENDER EQUALITY HAS BEEN KNOCKED BACK BY TEN YEARS OVER COVID-19 CONCERNS

IT IS GOING TO take the global community at least 267 years, up from 257 years last year, to close the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity because the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works by enforcing the shelving of gender equality for more pressing matters of survival and adaptation being prioritised. According to PriceWaterhouse Coopers’s (PwC) 13th edition of the Executive Direc-tors’: Practices and Remuneration Trends report, although South Africa scored highly for the political emancipation of women, ranking 14th, it ranked 92 in terms of economic participation and opportunity, and 131 for wage equality for similar work. The report indicated that boards were still lacking in gender diversity at senior levels, with year-on-year figures on female representation remaining stagnant. “We are seeing a marked increase around the communication of commitments to diversity and inclusion, but progress appears to be slow. In addition, Covid-19 has set us back, with more pressing matters of survival and adaptation being prioritised, often at the expense of what are considered to be ‘slow-burn’ issues such as diversity,” said Anastacia Tshesane, Transformation, Diversity & Inclusion Leader for PwC Southern Africa. Although there has been an increase in the proportion of skilled women and wage equality, there is still a persistent lack of women in leadership positions. |