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Board appointments are made through ‘old boy’ networks, locking out women

Saturday June 27 2015
EAGeraldine

Geraldine Joslyn Fraser-Moleketi is the Special Envoy on Gender at AfDB. PHOTO | FILE

Recently, the African Development Bank (AfDB) unveiled the first-ever study of female board membership in Africa. Major findings of the report, entitled ‘Where are the Women? Inclusive Boardrooms in Africa’s top-listed companies,’ which measured 2013 data for 307 companies in 12 countries, ranked Africa third behind the developed regions of Europe (18 per cent) and the US (16.9 per cent). In an interview with The EastAfrican’s, the AfDB’s gender envoy gives an insight into the report.

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According to your report, despite efforts by major corporations, the proportion of women in the high corporate hierarchy remains low.

Many of the women business leaders and corporate governance experts interviewed for the report, “Women Board Directors of Africa’s Top Listed Companies,” said commitment to women’s economic empowerment is lacking at the highest level in corporations in Africa. They also said information is lacking on women in the private sector to quantify how many women are in senior management or serving on boards.

What do you see as the key barriers to women’s climb up the corporate ladder?

There are a range of barriers: Board appointments tend to be made through “old boy” networks, boards lack an understanding of the benefits of diversity, corporate governance in many African countries is in its infancy and current guidelines to further diversify are not enforced sufficiently, leading to corporate reporting that is inconsistent and incomplete.

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Some argue that affirmative action cannot be deployed in a workplace in particular with private companies because these companies are looking for competence to grow their balance sheets. Instead, women should earn their way to the top by competing with their male counterparts.

There are many competent women working in private companies in Africa today; there is no shortage of qualified candidates for roles in senior management or to serve on boards. However, to kickstart the process of increasing the numbers of women serving on boards, quotas have been shown to be a very effective in many European countries, notably Norway, Finland and most recently France.

Another school of thought also argues that women are their biggest enemies — not as ambitious and aggressive as their male counterparts. What is your view?

I simply don’t agree.

Given that we still have unequal pay in the workplace, what policy measures are required to achieve gender parity in the workplace?

There are a number of interesting initiatives underway to make pay more transparent, by making companies statistically assess their own wage data and come up with strategies to correct inequities; for example, in the city of Boston in the US, companies sign a contract to address unequal pay.

Rwanda is credited for achieving gender parity in political leadership. But to what extent are ordinary women in this country benefiting from more women in leadership?

Our recently published Gender Equality Index shows that Rwanda has made great strides on several fronts — human development, leadership, and in economic empowerment. Women in high positions throughout the society in Rwanda are providing young women with powerful role models.

Many things are moving in the right direction in Rwanda — the percentage of women at universities is increasing. But as in many African countries, there is much to be done to ensure that women in rural areas and with lower levels of education also feel the benefits of the country’s impressive women empowerment strategy.

The African Development Bank’s 10-year strategy emphasises inclusive growth, and that means women and youth at all levels. We recently funded a programme in Rwanda to provide scholarships for 193 female students, many of whom come from poor backgrounds, to gain entry to higher institutes of education and then land internships. We must build a better Africa for all.

Your report cites Kenya and South Africa has frontrunners with a relatively higher number of women in boardrooms. Given that both countries still lag behind when it comes to women’s representation in political leadership, what has driven this trend and what lessons do these countries offer to other countries?

Kenya and South Africa both have government mandates for women’s representation on the boards of state-owned companies. Both countries have also integrated gender diversity into principles of good corporate governance.

What is critical to enabling women to be competitive in the workplace?

As we have seen in the findings and research, labour markets are very segregated in many African countries. Women hold only four out of 10 formal-sector jobs. Mindsets have to change in companies so they hire more women. What is more, African women are very entrepreneurial — they own a third of all businesses across Africa. But they lack access to credit and other forms of modern finance. Many need training in the aspects of running a business from accounting to managerial skills.

Africa Agenda 2063 prioritises gender parity. But as we know, very few countries in Africa will meet the gender parity goal this year. What do you see as the link between women’s economic empowerment and Africa’s transformation agenda?

We need the right leadership, bold management, and adequate resources in African countries to further gender equality. We need to achieve much greater impact and scale. Only through the “audacity of the audaciousness” of our leaders will we turn the rhetoric of Africa’s transformation into reality on the ground everywhere.

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