October 2023 has turned out to be a good month for the global movement of recognising the contribution of women to the advancement of humanity. This is long overdue.
Earlier this month, First Rand, the financial services group that owns FNB, named Mary Vilakazi, currently its COO, as the next CEO. She becomes the first black African woman to run a major banking group. A smaller bank, African Bank, was briefly run by Basani Maluleke, now an executive at Capitec Bank.
In Stockholm, the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the body that annually recognises outstanding contributions in the fields of peace, literature, medicine and economics, announced its prestigious prize for economics would go to Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin in November. She becomes the third woman in the history of the economics category to win the prize and significantly, the first woman to win and be recognised solo.
She was recognised for her ambitious study of women in the workplace especially why they end up earning less than their male counterparts for equal work. Since last Monday, her work has become a hot talking point. Undoubtedly, the study and her award will give impetus to the discourse about why women continue to be undervalued.
In the past few years, this debate has extended to the field of sport. Most sporting codes, notably soccer, have grudgingly embraced the concept. Progress has been slow, but it has become increasingly irreversible. SA’s political and public sectors have done phenomenally well in advancing the cause of gender parity.
Our national and provincial legislatures are the envy of the world’s leading democracies. Our various political parties have been ably led by women for years.
But we have not done that well in the private sector. Which makes Vilakazi’s well-deserved elevation so important. She follows in the footsteps of Maria Ramos, formerly Absa’s CEO. Still, commendable advances are being made in previously male-dominated sectors such as mining. The JSE, Africa’s largest bourse, has been led by two consecutive CEOs – first by Nicky Newton-King and now Leila Fourie.
Last Monday’s announcement is also an important milestone for the Nobel committee. The committee has endured longstanding criticism of being tone-deaf. However, in the past two decades it has made significant strides in attending to its blind spots.
Breaking with a longstanding tradition of only recognising individual effort, it has also recognised the contribution made by groups and institutions such as the UN and its secretary-general and the International Atomic Energy Agency. In 1993, it awarded the peace prize to Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk for their role in transitioning SA to an all-race democracy. In 2016, it awarded Bob Dylan, the American singer, the Nobel prize for literature.
The committee, which decides who gets recgnised, has been slow in recognising women in the economics category. But, at last, Goldin’s win shows progress is under way.
For the world, it is important that the important conversation started by Goldin’s research is continued in board rooms, legislatures and in sports federations and, indeed, within households.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.