Shareholder activist group Just Share says gender diversity in the JSE’s top 40 leadership remains elusive and inconsistent.
The group’s latest Women in Leadership report, which assesses the representation of women on boards and in executive management roles, revealed a marginal increase in female board representation, and a decline in gender diversity at executive level.
According to the report, women occupy 36% of board positions in the JSE top 40, a 1% increase from 2023. However, the group said this increase was not the result of more women taking up board roles but rather a decline in male board members.
At the executive level, female representation dropped to 23%, down from 25% in the previous year, Just Share said.
The report found that a mere five companies in the top 40 have female board chairs, while only four are led by female CEOs. The companies with female board chairs are Impala Platinum, Shoprite Holdings, Sasol, Standard Bank Group and Capitec. FirstRand, Bidvest Group, Clicks Group and Exxaro Resources are led by female CEOs.
However, despite these groups, only eight companies in the top 40 have achieved gender parity or met the national “economically active population” figure for women, which stands at 46%, the activist group said.
“Bidvest Group stands out with the highest female representation, with 64% of its board seats and 58% of its executive positions held by women. This marks an 8% increase in executive management representation since 2023 for Bidvest. However, there has been an 11% decline in board representation over the same period,” it said.
Across sectors, the basic materials industry, which includes mining, metals, chemicals and energy, showed better-than-average female representation at the board level, with three companies, Exxaro Resources, Impala Platinum and Northam Platinum achieving gender parity.
“Sibanye-Stillwater’s female representation at board level has dropped to 17%, down from 31% in 2023.”
The company’s performance at executive management level was also poor, with only three female executives out of a total of 20.
“Northam Platinum and Glencore have the lowest female representation in the C-suite, at just 13%. In contrast, BHP is the only company in this sector to achieve gender equity in executive management.”
Consumer goods and financial services saw declines in female leadership at the executive level.
In the consumer sector, women hold 35% of board seats, a 7% increase from 2023, yet only 18% of executive roles were held by women.
In financial services, women occupy 25% of executive positions, with Nedbank leading the sector with 46% female representation at the executive level.
“However, Reinet Investments SCA remains the only company in the top 40 with no female board members,” Just Share said.
According to the report, only AngloGold Ashanti, Impala Platinum and Woolworths have committed to reaching a 50% female representation on their boards. Just Share said while these goals were a positive step, they are not yet the norm.
On a global scale, SA ranks eighth among Group of 20 (G20) countries in female board representation, with the G20 average at 22%. However, a UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges market monitor found that gender parity in corporate leadership globally may take more than a century to achieve at the current rate.
Just Share cited this analysis, saying that the slow pace of change worldwide places the anticipated closing of the gender gap at 2158, well beyond the 2030 sustainable development goal target.
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