South African companies may be succeeding in bringing more women into management, but they are still losing too many just before they reach the positions with the greatest authority and influence.
The country’s Commission for Employment Equity reports that women hold 37,7% of senior management positions but only 26,9% of top management roles. The decline of almost 11 percentage points exposes a “missing middle” in corporate leadership.
“It is concerning that experienced women are reaching senior levels, but are not progressing into the C-suite at the same rate,” says Bizmod’s Inge Lawrence.
The divide is also evident among South Africa’s largest listed companies. Just Share’s analysis of the JSE Top 40 found that women held 36% of board positions in 2024, but only 23% of executive-management roles.
“This tells us that the problem is not simply a shortage of qualified or ambitious women,” says Lawrence. “Women are entering the leadership pipeline and reaching senior management. The critical question is what happens to them when the most powerful positions become available?”
Board representation is important, but executive roles carry direct responsibility for strategy, operations, people, performance, and capital allocation. Increasing the number of women around the boardroom table does not automatically place more women in the positions that run businesses.
The loss has wider economic consequences.
At the senior-management level, an employer has already invested significantly in an individual’s experience, leadership development, institutional knowledge, and relationships. When a capable woman leaves or decides that further advancement is not worth the personal cost, that investment walks out of the organisation or remains underused.
Career progression also shapes long-term financial security.
Research from UCT’s Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit found that nearly half of South Africa’s gender pay gap can be explained by women working at lower-paying companies than men. The gap is greatest from women’s mid-20s to mid-40s, broadly coinciding with the years in which many carry substantial care responsibilities.
“Too often, organisations interpret a woman’s reluctance to pursue the next position as a lack of ambition,” says Lawrence. “However, they should be asking whether she has received the sponsorship, career-defining assignments, and practical support required to see that position as both attainable and sustainable.”
Bizmod recommends that employers focus on three areas:
- Measure movement, not only representation. Track the proportion of women entering, being promoted, and leaving at every level. A headline executive target will not reveal where the pipeline is leaking.
- Audit access to career-making work. Examine who receives responsibility for major clients, turnaround projects, international exposure, profit-and-loss accountability, and crisis leadership. These assignments create the evidence later used to justify executive appointments.
- Turn mentorship into sponsorship. Mentors offer advice; sponsors use their influence to open doors. Senior leaders should be expected to identify women with executive potential, advocate for them, and ensure they gain the experience and networks needed for promotion.
Employers should also examine whether their definition of “leadership potential” disproportionately rewards visibility, constant availability, and uninterrupted career histories. Flexible work achieves little if the people using it are quietly regarded as less committed or less promotable.
“Women do not need another August campaign telling them to be more confident or to lean in,” says Lawrence. “They need transparent pathways, equitable access to opportunity, and leaders who are accountable for developing diverse successors.”
Women’s Month commemorates those who challenged systems that restricted women’s freedom and agency. For corporate South Africa, the most meaningful tribute would be to identify and remove the barriers that still separate female potential from executive power.
The real test of gender transformation is no longer how many women enter the leadership pipeline. It is how many remain when the most important seats become available, says Lawrence.