Women get ahead in SA banking, but pay lags behind
Surveys conducted in the City of London or on Wall Street regularly show that, despite everything, the glass ceiling still exists and women find it harder to rise to the top and get paid less than their male counterparts. So what is the situation in South Africa, where the government since 1994 has made a point of fighting discrimination of all kinds and in all quarters?
The good news is that women are allowed and even encouraged to take up jobs and get ahead. The bad news is that the gender pay gap remains a significant reality.
The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report praises South Africa for having made great strides, moving to sixth position in the world from 22nd in 2008. In 2010 16.4% of directors were women, up from 4% before democracy, 19.3% executives and 10.4% Ceos or Chair of the Board. Women at the very top now include Gill Marcus, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank, and Maria Ramos, Ceo of Absa Bank.
"Quotas called for by black economic empowerment also resulted in women in leadership," says Sandra Burmeister, Ceo of the Landelahni Recruitment Group. "And research shows that companies with a significant proportion of women in senior management outperform their sector in financial performance."
Women, like non-white people, were regarded as "previously disadvantaged" by the Government and given preferential treatment.
"There is no doubt that women have become more sought after by employers," says Auguste Coetzer, director of Talent Africa. "But the primary danger facing women is the perception that they may be appointed because companies tick off their compliance on their gender scorecards rather than because of professional achievements."
Despite the inevitable tokenism or window-dressing, the important thing is that "there is absolutely no discrimination against women in the financial services sector that I've come across, especially at executive level," says Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, MD of Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters in Cape Town.
But the downside is that men still earn up to 66.5% more than their female counterparts for the same work. The pay differential starts very early on.
A survey done by the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) in Johannesburg shows that new MBA graduates on average receive a 54% salary increase if they are male and a 15% salary increase if they are women.
There is a notable exception, however. This occurs when South Africa's drive to promote the previously disdvantaged, meaning women but above all blacks, and the lack of skills in the financial services sector all combine to provide the perfect conditions for one highly sought-after kind of employee. "The most highly-prized employee is a black female," says Goodman-Bhyat. "She will be able to demand a premium and she will get it."
