Grant Thornton Botswana (GTBW) conducted a poll in February 2024, highlighting the continued challenge of achieving gender parity in the country’s top management roles. Even though 81 per cent of respondents felt there weren’t enough women in top positions in their firms, the slow rise of women in business is a global phenomenon.
According to the GTBW poll, women’s advancement in business is still sluggish in Botswana across all industries. “Organisations should be intentional about increasing women’s representation in Senior Management to address inclusion and equity,” stated Ogone Madisa, CEO, National Development Bank.
Additionally, this finding coincides with the release of “Pathways to Parity: 20 Years of Women in Business Insights” by Grant Thornton International (GTIL) on International Women’s Day. The GTIL report marks two decades of research focused on monitoring and measuring female representation in senior management roles across mid-market companies worldwide.
The GTIL report identifies three key pathways for businesses to accelerate progress towards gender parity: assigning responsibility for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) to both a C-suite member and a female senior leader; implementing a clear strategy with specific DE&I goals and regular measurement of success; and fostering flexible working arrangements.
Further, the GTBW survey results align with the GTIL report, underlining the importance of additional measures to support women’s career progression. Organisations are exploring initiatives such as encouraging senior management to act as role models (18 per cent), developing new working practices (15 per cent), monitoring women’s well-being (15 per cent) and promoting work-life balance with flexibility (14 per cent).
“As the economy continuously adapts to ever-increasing changes, we cannot afford to lose focus on the push for gender parity,” said Kalyanaraman Vijay, Managing Partner, Grant Thornton. To guarantee a successful and just future for everybody, Vijay further exhorts firms to respond to the call to action and grasp the chance to lead significant change.
