Paper/Proposal Title
African Females: The Quest for “Sisterhood” and Equality in the Workplace
Location
M2380
Start Date
11-3-2023 12:00 AM
End Date
11-3-2023 12:00 AM
Keywords
Female equality, African female leadership, patriarchy
Abstract
Women have been marginalized in both developing and developed countries for ages, and evidence points to the fact that despite movements to ensure gender equality in all spheres of employment, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions in Africa, as a developing country and the USA, as a developed country. The best State, known for gender equality is New Mexico, where 46,1% of top management positions are held by females, but in 2021, throughout the rest of the USA, women still only hold 31,7% of top executive positions. The position in South Africa, is similar in that women, who represent 43,4 % of the total workforce, only make up 33% of managerial positions and only 10% of directorships at the Johannesburg Stock exchange, despite a very progressive constitution and legislation prohibiting unfair discrimination against women.
There is a common understanding that feminism has it roots in the West, but the quest for female equality and equal representation in especially higher positions within Africa and South Africa, is in want of a different strategy. This is what this paper aims to address. It has been found that one of the barriers to female equality in employment could be attributed to socio-cultural factors, such as the remnants of patriarchy and colonization. African feminism has been shaped by the role of females played in politics, more than characterized by the different feminist waves in the West, but with the same goal, being acknowledged as competent “sister- employees”.
This paper will explore the reasons for the under - representation of females in leadership or managerial positions in South Africa, Africa, and the USA and tender possible solutions to the problem whilst calling upon the sisters of Africa to rise to their African calling.
Author/Speaker Biographical Statement(s)
Dina Maria [Denine] Smit is an associate professor at University of the Free State, South Africa and an advocate of the High Court of SA and attained the degrees B. Iur, LLB, advanced course in labour law (cum laude) LLM, (cum laude), LLD (Labour Law) at the UFS. She was an advocate for the State for 12 years, and was one of the first female advocates practicing criminal law in the Free State. Thereafter she was the legal adviser and IR specialist for South African Breweries and one of the first females occupying an executive position in the Central South African Region. She went into private practice as an advocate, specializing in Labour Law until she took up a full time teaching position with the University of the Free State 10 years ago. She is currently an associate professor at the UFS, specializing in labour law. She has authored and co-authored 3 books, published more than 25 academic articles and supervised several students to obtain their masters and doctorate qualifications. She presented at several national and international conferences, inclusive of World Conferences on Security and Labour law. She contributed two chapters to the ILO’s latest book, Celebrating the ILO 100 years on: Reflections on Labour Law from a South African Perspective, published in December 2020. She is a member of several national and international organization with labour law as the primary focus.
African Females: The Quest for “Sisterhood” and Equality in the Workplace
M2380
Women have been marginalized in both developing and developed countries for ages, and evidence points to the fact that despite movements to ensure gender equality in all spheres of employment, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions in Africa, as a developing country and the USA, as a developed country. The best State, known for gender equality is New Mexico, where 46,1% of top management positions are held by females, but in 2021, throughout the rest of the USA, women still only hold 31,7% of top executive positions. The position in South Africa, is similar in that women, who represent 43,4 % of the total workforce, only make up 33% of managerial positions and only 10% of directorships at the Johannesburg Stock exchange, despite a very progressive constitution and legislation prohibiting unfair discrimination against women.
There is a common understanding that feminism has it roots in the West, but the quest for female equality and equal representation in especially higher positions within Africa and South Africa, is in want of a different strategy. This is what this paper aims to address. It has been found that one of the barriers to female equality in employment could be attributed to socio-cultural factors, such as the remnants of patriarchy and colonization. African feminism has been shaped by the role of females played in politics, more than characterized by the different feminist waves in the West, but with the same goal, being acknowledged as competent “sister- employees”.
This paper will explore the reasons for the under - representation of females in leadership or managerial positions in South Africa, Africa, and the USA and tender possible solutions to the problem whilst calling upon the sisters of Africa to rise to their African calling.
