The face of business in South Africa is changing with female executives breaking through the "glass ceiling" and being placed in top positions. Progress has been made by women in the 10 years of South Africa’s democracy, but there is still a long way to go. While women make up 52% of the adult population, they comprise only 41% of the working South African population and only constitute 14.7% of all executive managers.1
Thirty per cent of our parliamentarians are women and 9 of the 27 Cabinet Ministers and 8 of the 14 Deputy Ministers are women.
However, the appointment of the first female Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo–Ngcuka is the most significant signal of a serious commitment to female leadership at the highest political levels in South Africa and is embodied in her championing of the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative - South Africa [ASGISA] strategy to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014. This strategy aims to leverage the first economy to address the challenges of the second economy. ASGISA has committed to a national shared growth initiative rather than a government programme to deliver on the social objectives. This opens the way for important partnerships in various groupings and forums to address deep-seated inequalities and intervene to meet the country’s socio economic challenges. The Deputy President has in this regard, particularly emphasized the role and engagement with women. The emphasis of ASGISA on shared growth and the stimulation of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment [ BBBEE] provides a focus point for KPMG to position itself through the KNOW project to support the Deputy President’s commitment in the areas of skills development, enterprise development and social responsibility
In South Africa, KPMG has identified the potential to connect with the women leadership in our environment through an existing international initiative. The KPMG Network of Women (KNOW) was launched in 2002 and runs in 31 states across America. Over 7000 female executives have positively been impacted by the KNOW initiative.
The KNOW initiative will identify itself with the Deputy President’s initiative of developing skilled professional women in key business areas.
1 Businesswomen’s Association census of women on boards and in executive management of all companies listed on the JSE Securities exchange as well as the largest state-owned enterprises in SA.
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