Pretoria – Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Susan Shabangu, has challenged the 30% Club Southern Africa to increase its targets for women representation.
Addressing captains of industry from Southern Africa and oversees at the inaugural 30% Club Southern Africa Members Dinner on Tuesday, the Minister said 24 years ago the, 49th National Conference of the African National Congress (held in Durban) adopted a resolution enforcing 30% women representation in all its leadership structures.
However, 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 the 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,” Minister Shabangu said.
The 30% Club is a group of chairpersons, CEOs and senior partners of organisations internationally that is committed to bringing more women onto boards because they believe it’s good for the overall effectiveness of the boardroom, and therefore good for business. Focus is also placed on the executive pipeline to create sustainable change.
Already over 200 senior business leaders of global companies such as Anglo American, Old Mutual, Boomberg, Goldman Sachs, Coca Cola and Rolls Royce have joined the club.
The aim is to achieve the 30% goal of women on boards by 2015 in certain countries and others, including South Africa, by 2018.
The AU has also declared 2015 as “The Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa Agenda 2063”.
Minister Shabangu said in order to achieve 50% women representation, there is a need to deal collectively with silent conventions that marginalise women and serve 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 programmes,” said Minister Shabangu.
She said 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.
Minister Shabangu’s department will convene national and provincial dialogues between March and June to take stock of 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 dialogues will contribute to the development of the Report on the Status of Women, which will be launched by the President during National Woman’s Day on 9 August 2015. – SAnews.gov.za
