The Businesswomen`s Association (BWA) 2005 SA Women in Corporate Leadership Census has found that the state of gender empowerment across all sectors in SA is still low.
The research, conducted by the BWA and a US based company, Catalyst, examined 355 Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed companies and 17 state owned enterprises (SOEs). It indicated that women make up 52% of SA`s adult population, but only 41.3% of the workforce.
Women hold 19.8% of all executive manager positions. Of CEOs and board chairs, women make up 6.2%, while 10.7% of all directors are women. In last year`s report, women held 14.7% of all executive manager positions and only 7.1% of all directorships in the country.
Only 15 companies (4%) have women chairing boards, while only eight companies (2.2%) have women CEOs. This is an increase over last year`s census, which counted 11 women as chairs of boards and seven CEOs.
Out of 2 851 directorships, 306 are held by 278 women (84.2% hold one directorship and two of these women hold five or more directorships each).
Brigette Petersen, CEO for Lesedi Corporate Technology and this year`s winner for the BWA Regional Business Achiever Award, says there are not many women occupying high positions in the ICT sector.
"Most women occupy the administration and finance positions, with a few in technical and executive positions."
Government has progressed further than the private sector in appointing women to executive positions, says Petersen. Most companies, she says, employ women to comply with the ICT Charter and legislative interventions, rather than seeking talented employees.
"When these companies place women in high positions, they are actually not solving the problem. They should employ women with potential and develop them."
The BWA has listed the 2005 SA top performing companies. To qualify, a company must have women in 25% or more of director positions and 25% or more of executive manager positions. They are:
*Adonis Knitware Holdings Limited
*Aquilla Growth Limited
*Buildmax Limited
*Cullinan Holdings Limited
*DataPro Group Limited
*Development Bank Of South Africa
*ERP.com Holding Limited
*Infowave Holding Limited
*Insurance Outsourcing Mangers Holding Ltd
*Nictus Beperk
*Paracon Holdings Limited
*Petra Mining Limited
*South African Broadcasting Corporation
*South African Post Office
*Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority
*Terexco Limited
*Tisec Limited
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