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SA: Susan Shabangu: Address by Minister of Women, at the inaugural 30% Club Southern Africa members dinner, International Business Gateway, New Road, Midrand (03/03/2015)

Susan Shabangu
Photo by Duane Daws
Susan Shabangu

4th March 2015

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Programme Director;
Chief Executive of Business Engage and President of 30% Club Southern Africa, Ms Colleen Larsen 30% Club Southern Africa members;
Our host, T-Systems South Africa – the 2014 Gender Mainstreaming Champions;
Captains of industry and leaders from various parts of the world;
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honour to address you this evening at this important first of two annual 30% Club Southern Africa Members Dinner.

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You could not have picked a more relevant time to hold this inaugural meeting. In six days’ time countries will converge in New York at the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women for the 20 year review of progress made in achieving women’s empowerment, development and advancement since the historic 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Several of the 12 thematic areas that countries will be reporting on are at the heart of what this gathering is about. These are education and training of women, women in power and decision making and women and the economy. This gathering also takes place a few days before the celebration of the International Women’s Day on Sunday, 8 of March. This celebration provides an opportunity for women throughout the world to pause and reflect on the strides made to achieve women’s empowerment in all sectors including the private sector.

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Increasingly, the private sector is realising that gender diversity at the top echelons of companies is not only about numbers but also about improved performance. The reality is that a more diverse Board of Directors has a better understanding of markets that are themselves diverse in terms of gender. The private sector is also becoming more conscious of the spin-offs that are brought by a gender diverse board in decision-making processes as compared to a more homogeneous board.

Globally the call of  bringing more women onto boards and other decision making structures has been growing more significant and louder with several studies done by reputable organisations such as Catalyst – a leading non-profit corporate membership and advisory organisation working globally with businesses and professions to build inclusive environment and expand opportunities for women and business – showing that companies with the most women board directors performed far better than those that do not.

This brings to mind an Ethiopian proverb that says “Where a woman rules, streams run uphill”. A Catalyst report in 2013 on Why Diversity Matters mentioned four key pillars for the business case to have more women in senior positions and onto boards;

    Improved financial performance,
    Increased ability to leverage talent,
    Reflecting the market place and building reputation (better corporate governance) and
    Increased innovation and group performance.

This is why I believe that efforts by structures such as the 30% Club are worthy of praise. Not just because this is an international group that is committed to bringing more women onto boards because they acknowledge that it is inevitable in the long run for the sustainability of business but because there is a real focus placed on pipeline development and sustainable change. However, we still have a long way to go in the realisation of women’s empowerment.

Twenty-four years ago the 49th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) held in Durban in 1991 adopted a resolution enforcing 30% women representation in all its leadership structures. In 2007 at its 52nd National Conference it increased women representation to 50%. It is within this context that I submit that 30% was in fashion 24 years ago. We have moved beyond 30% in the arena of women’s representation and have moved to 50%.

I think it is also possible for the 30% Club to move the scale higher and become a 50% Club. May I use this opportunity to challenge the 30% Club to join the African Union (AU) in ensuring 50% women representation by 2020. In its effort to realise this vision, the AU has also declared 2015 as “the year of women’s empowerment and development towards Africa Agenda 2063”.

In order to achieve this, we must collectively deal with silent conventions that marginalise women and serves as barriers prohibiting them from going up the corporate ladder. We must also disabuse some companies of a notion that there are no sufficient numbers of qualified female candidates to serve on boards. The only way to do this is to have a database of ‘board/executive-ready’ women and consciously invest in women’s empowerment programs.

Ultimately the role that women play in the boards is as crucial and sometimes even more important than just having women onto boards. I do not believe that women want to be there to satisfy some checklist, they want to make a meaningful contribution. To paraphrase Cherie Blair the founder of Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and chair of Omnia Strategy LLP, a company that does not allow women to fully participate in its decision making structures is a company “not living up to its potential”.

The responsibility to see women coming onto decision making roles is not the prerogative of business alone, governments also have a key role to play as well. Since the democratic elections of 1994 South Africa has seen a number of women taking up leadership in areas previously dominated by men. One of the success stories of our democracies is that of the representation of women in political decision-making positions.

Following the 2014 National Elections a Ministry in the Presidency responsible for Women was established. The mandate of this Department, for which I am responsible, is to promote women's socio-economic empowerment, development and human rights. This entails ensuring that all public and private sectors’ programmes mainstream gender to remove the persisting barriers to the advancement of women, many of which are systemic and structural inequalities, which remains a critical condition to achieving women empowerment and gender equality.

In order for the Department of Women to be able to implement its mandate, it is imperative that it evaluates the institutional and legislative advances (including the development of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality legislation) made towards attaining gender equality and improving the status of women for the past twenty years, to assess the real improvements in the everyday reality for the majority of women; and to create an integrated baseline database from which to assess future impact of the radical socio-economic transformation programme of the fifth administration.

For some time now the lingering question has been whether, given our internationally renowned and progressive legislative framework, including the Employment Equity Act as amended which provides for equal representation on the basis of race and gender, we are in need of new legislation to advance the rights of women and girls and address their socio-economic exclusion or we need to evaluate existing laws and policies with the view of strengthening them and their implementation towards the improving of the status of women.

Thus the department is planning to convene national and provincial dialogues between March and June 2015 in order to provide a platform for discourse on the strides made towards the attainment of women empowerment and gender equality in South Africa. The dialogues will give women a voice to tell their stories.

The outcome of the dialogue will contribute to the development of the ‘Report on the Status of Women’ which will be launched by the President on the National Woman’s Day, 9 August 2015.

In closing let me leave you with this insightful reflection:

President and CEO of Catalyst, Deborah Gills, who said, “We have evidence and optimism that closing the gender gap on corporate boards is positive, yet the current numbers are not good enough. Companies that are not making diversity on boards a priority should be embarrassed. Smart leaders know that they can either lead the movement towards making profound and lasting impact, or be left behind. The way of the past is not the way of the future.”

An article in Harvard Business Review by Avivah Wittenburg-Cox titled “Gender Balance is Hard, but it is not Complicated” concludes by stating that: “Gender Balance does not require a huge culture shift, it requires the momentum that comes from a strategic push towards a clear vision, backed by strong leadership and skilled managers”.

I thank you.

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