LERATO NDLOVU

This weekend marks International Women’s Day, a global moment to pause, reflect and accelerate action towards gender equity. In South Africa the corporate landscape tells a story of meaningful progress, yet also of a stubborn and consequential gap. While women are increasingly visible in boardrooms, they remain markedly absent from the apex of executive leadership.

Recent research underscores this paradox. Spencer Stuart’s board index shows that women now hold 37% of all board director roles and 40% of nonexecutive director positions within the JSE top 50 — a historic high and encouraging sign of movement towards balanced governance. Yet the same dataset shows that women occupy only 22% of executive director roles, including CEOs, CFOs and other key executive positions. In other words, our pipeline is widening, but the funnel to top operational leadership remains constricted.

This disparity matters. Board seats provide influence, but executive roles provide power. The power to set strategy, allocate capital, build culture and drive transformation from within. The question we must ask, especially on International Women’s Day, is, “What prevents women from moving from presence to power in South Africa’s corporate hierarchy?”

Spencer Stuart’s latest global survey of more than 2,300 women leaders reveals that progress for women in leadership is real but uneven. Nearly half of respondents feel that momentum for women is stalling or reversing, even as many report optimism about their individual career trajectories.

The biggest obstacles identified remain familiar:

Gender bias and assumptions about women’s interests or capabilities;
Limited access to leadership opportunities and early-career profit and loss (P&L) roles;
Exclusion from informal networks; and
Higher performance standards for women compared to men.

Yet the same research shows that women leaders who break through share common enablers: sponsorship; early exposure to operational responsibility; supportive managers; leadership development; and well‑nurtured internal and external networks. These are precisely the mechanisms that organisations must strengthen if they are to convert nonexecutive director representation into executive leadership impact.

South Africa is at an inflection point. We have achieved representation in the boardroom, a milestone worth celebrating this International Women’s Day, but representation without executive power will not transform our economy, our companies or our future

South Africa’s board diversity progress is real and commendable. Women make up more than a third of all directors in the JSE top 50, a figure that compares favourably with peers such as Belgium (38%) and Spain (37%), and significantly outperforms markets like the US (25%) and Japan (3%).

But beneath these numbers lies an entrenched leadership bottleneck. Only five out of 45 CEOs and 10 out of 39 CFOs in the JSE top 50 are women, and women’s average board tenure is significantly shorter than men’s (4.6 years vs 7.9 years), reducing their influence and limiting their succession visibility.

Moreover, nearly half of newly appointed nonexecutive directors are women, a powerful indicator of future potential, but 22% of them have no previous board experience, reflecting gaps in the developmental pipeline. Clearly, the issue is not access to governance roles. It is access to the developmental, operational and experiential pathways that lead to CEO and C-suite readiness.

The step from board oversight to executive responsibility is not automatic, nor should it be. Executive leadership requires deep operational acumen, P&L experience and years of strategic decision-making. But too few women are being placed in the types of roles that generate this experience.

The global findings mirror what we see in South Africa: women are often overlooked for stretch assignments, passed over for line management positions and pushed towards staff or support roles rather than operational ones.

In addition, women continue to navigate informal networks that exclude them, managerial behaviours that undermine their influence, and corporate cultures that reward conformity over diverse leadership styles.

These patterns collectively impede the translation of boardroom visibility into executive legitimacy. To break the executive glass ceiling, organisations must adopt intentional, systemic and measurable interventions aligned with global best practice.

The following is required:

Build P&L pathways early. Companies must proactively place high‑potential women in operational roles, not just staff functions, and ensure they receive the coaching and exposure necessary to succeed. This was identified as a decisive factor in Spencer Stuart’s global survey.
Invest in sponsorship, not just mentorship. Sponsorship remains the most critical external driver of women’s career progression. Leaders, especially male executives who still dominate the top, must advocate for women behind closed doors, not just advise them.
Establish transparent succession pipelines. Boards should demand visibility into gender‑balanced succession plans for C‑suite roles and hold CEOs accountable for developing diverse talent.
Rethink board-executive linkages. Boards can play a catalytic role by ensuring that nonexecutive director talent is considered for executive opportunities when appropriate, including within group subsidiaries or portfolio companies.
Address tenure and inclusion gaps. Women’s shorter board tenures dilute their influence. Addressing barriers to retention and ensuring inclusive decision-making are essential.

South Africa is at an inflection point. We have achieved representation in the boardroom, a milestone worth celebrating this International Women’s Day, but representation without executive power will not transform our economy, our companies or our future.

If we are to fully unleash the potential of women leaders, we must focus not only on getting women into the room but enabling them to run the room.