We cannot progress if black women are stifled

YOUNG women excel in school and move on to tertiary education if they are fortunate enough to have the capital to continue with their studies.

For those that have financial constraints, they pursue their studies to improve their career prospects through part-time studying, while simultaneously holding down a full-time job and/or home and married life. By the time they reach their thirties, many young women have excelled in their chosen field and expect to be promoted through the ranks into management.

However, this is not the natural career progression for many young black women despite their hard work, long hours and many sacrifices.

One young woman recently shared with me that she studied and expected to at least be in a management post but after five years in the company she has come to realise that it is her pipe dream.

She has not moved up the career ladder as her male peers have done and yet they don’t have the same qualifications that she does and she knows that she will do well in a management post.

It begs the question: why? What are the barriers to black women in attaining leadership posts?

Irrespective of the sector, whether it is a private company, non-profit organisation or a small to medium enterprise, black women (and by the term black women I am referring to the national category of “black” women) have not been acknowledged for their contributions to the successes of those companies.

What is even worse is that women who have achieved middle management and leadership posts have to work twice as hard as their male or white counterparts to prove themselves worthy of the post.

I have come across black women in leadership who have shared their challenges.

Most of them say their shareholders and boards are made up of predominantly privileged males or old white women (many of them over the age of 70) who do not trust them.

They have to run their every decision by these boards or shareholders, who view their actions and decision-making with suspicion and mistrust.

This can be demoralising and demotivating to any women, let alone black women in leadership.

How then do we expect black women leaders to shine when the very system they are trying to change works against them?

And yet those very same people have no compunction or issues when it comes to claiming credit for the work of black women leaders.

I once worked in an organisation where the executive director would shoot down every idea that I came up with but a week later he would bring up the same idea, just tweaking the wording to claim it as his own. All you could do, faced with this blatant stealing of your ideas and creativity, was to say, “Wow, you are so brilliant, great idea Mr Ed.” And as you walk away, you wonder if you should keep your creativity to yourself in such circumstances.

But creativity and knowledge cannot be stifled and black women leaders continue to excel, even without being provided with an enabling environment to showcase their talents.

It’s a given fact that black women leaders are not afraid to “get their hands dirty” – by that I mean undertake tasks and lead by example.

This whereas their counterparts, both male and female, will delegate and then take the credit.

Many of them come into conflict with their boards and shareholders for speaking out and are labelled as challenges and yet they have so much to offer the economy and NGO sector, given half the chance. Last year, while waiting for someone at the CCMA, I met this young Indian woman, who brought a case against her organisation.

She had stuck to her values and principles and was being disciplined for it.

She refused to do anything that violated her values and ethics, which didn’t sit well with the leadership in her organisation.

When I saw the team that represented the insurance company she worked for as a manager, it would have put the fear of God into a lesser mortal.

They were an all-male, suited team of about five people against this one young lady, who represented herself.

She had her facts and won her case.

However, it was a hollow victory, not something to be celebrated as she ended up without a job and the famous “gag order”.

This order effectively silences the voices of black women in leadership and disempowers them.

How does one help other women in similar situations and serve as a learning opportunity if they are gagged from speaking out or sharing their experiences?

Take the example of the young woman doctor who spoke out against her seniors. She recently posted a long article whereby she talked about the lessons from speaking out, almost backtracking as speaking out gets you relegated to the unknown.

So how do we change the dynamics to enable black women leaders to excel and make meaningful contributions?

More importantly, how do we ensure the lessons they have to share are spread through multimedia and provide a platform for change for other black women in leadership?

I remember when I was in middle management in the corporate sector, our managing director selected me to do the Management Advancement Programme at Wits Business School.

This was a part-time block course and a mini-MBA.

One of my peers, an Englishman, came to me and told me in front of the other staff, “you are the affirmative action candidate and that’s the only reason you are on this programme, don’t expect much”.

I looked at him, smiled and happily went into the programme.

It was extremely intensive and required hard work and dedication.

I was completing my Advanced Project Management diploma simultaneously.

Our graduation took place in November 2002.

I sat alone in the audience as my husband had to take care of our children.

And then the announcement was made. I had won the top student award and our group won the best group award.

Then Minister Trevor Manuel presented me with the award. That was the best answer I could give to my colleague for referring to me as the affirmative action candidate.

Would you believe he actually asked the Dean to see my marks to reassure himself that I actually did win the top student award!

That was in 2002. Attitudes have not changed since then and black women leaders still strive hard to be accepted, trusted and supported for their contributions to development, economy, socially and in politics. The fervent hope is that by 2025 we see more black women leaders (currently only 5% have attained CEO level) given the platform they deserve and worked hard for, to enable them to excel in their respective fields.

I was at the recent South African National HIV Conference and it was sad to see the real workers were black women who had not been given the accolades and leadership posts they deserved.

They are making a difference and yet the founders of the organisations they work in, mostly old white women in their seventies, were standing up and taking the credit and limelight for the hard work of these black women. We need radical change in South Africa in all spheres and in all sectors and a dispensing with “gag” orders to enable black women leaders to thrive.

Karen Pillay is a development practitioner