Steady but uneven: Women slowly climb the corporate ladder in South Africa's boardrooms

The Herald

17-07-2025

South Africa is making 'steady but uneven' progress towards gender equity in corporate boardrooms.
This is according to the 2024 Spencer Stuart South Africa Board Index which tracks the composition of boards in the country's 50 largest JSE-listed companies.
The report reveals that women now account for 37% of all directors and 40% of non-executive directors (NEDs) which is a significant improvement compared to previous decades.
The report also showed persistent gaps especially in executive leadership and long-term retention.
'Sixty percent of boards now include at least one woman in a top executive position either as chairperson, CEO, CFO or another executive director. This signals that women are not only entering the boardroom but increasingly occupying key decision-making roles,' the report said.
The index showed that despite these gains progress remains inconsistent. Just 43% of newly appointed NEDs are women and 22% of them have no prior board experience which is a sign of what the report calls a 'persistent pipeline problem'.
The report also provides insights into age and tenure differences. The average board member is just under 60 years old but female NEDs are notably younger than their male counterparts, averaging 57.9 years versus 62.3.
New directors are younger still, at 55.7 years. However the average tenure for women on boards is only 4.6 years compared to 7.5 years for men, raising questions about retention and long-term influence.
In addition to gender, the Spencer Stuart Index tracks other dimensions of diversity including race, age and nationality. It found that 32% of board members are historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSAs).
Among these, HDSA women average 55.4 years in age and 4.9 years of tenure, slightly above the average for female directors.
Still, the report cautions that women remain underrepresented at the highest rungs of corporate leadership.
Globally, the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI), which tracks thousands of companies, reports that just 6.5% of CEOs and 9.1% of board chairs are women.
The MSCI ACWI said the number of female CEOs worldwide has doubled since 2019, and 18.8% of CFO roles are now held by women. However, pay disparities persist as in 2022, male CEOs earned an average of $6.5m compared to $6.3m for their female counterparts.
The communications sector showed the starkest gap with men outearning women by nearly $10m, while in industrials, women out-earned men by $4.4m on average.
South Africa's progress, though slow, is notable as a Stellenbosch University study highlights that in 2008, only 14.3% of JSE-listed company directors were women.
By 2017, that figure had risen to 20.7%. Yet, it still lags far behind the demographic reality as women make up 51.2% of the population and 45% of the economically active population.
Internationally, some countries have taken bolder measures. Norway enacted one of the world's first and strictest gender quota laws in 2003, mandating 40% female board representation. It became compulsory in 2006, with penalties for noncompliance.
The result was fewer listed companies. with many delisting to avoid the law, but the move led to better qualified women in leadership and a reduced gender pay gap.
Spain's 2007 Gender Equality Act took a softer approach. It set a 60/40 gender balance target but without strict enforcement. Instead, it used incentives such as preferential access to government contracts for compliant companies, encouraging voluntary change.
Despite global shifts, gender parity is still a long way off. The MSCI projects that women will make up 40% of board members globally by 2033. Full gender parity (50:50) isn't expected until 2040.
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