Women on Boards Zimbabwe pushes for more representation
…as only 16% constitute women on boards
STAFF WRITER
Women on Boards Zimbabwe (WoBZ), an initiative of Institute of Directors Zimbabwe ( IoDZ), is pushing for an increase in the number of professional women in executive and board positions in a bid to increase women’s voice in the decision making platforms.
The latest statistics show that only 16% constitutes female board members in the country with the balance being the male counterparts.
Ultimately, WoBZ strives to place its women members on boards through the IoDZ Board Placement Service.
IoDZ vice president Emmah Mungoni highlighted the need to increase women’s representation to improve this undesirable situation.
“The objectives of the Women on Boards are to promote increased gender balance and diversity on boards, to provide special courses aimed at preparing aspiring women for board appointment and to provide special courses and networking platforms for women already serving on boards aimed at strengthening their competences and confidence in discharging their board role.
The hard facts are that there are currently far fewer women on boards of most companies,” Mungoni said.
According to a local research, from the listed companies out of 500 board seats only 80 are women.
This represents about 16%.
This shows that men still dominate the apex of corporate Zimbabwe.
Only 13 women have an executive role and some boards do not even have any female representation.
According to a 2015 study by the African Development Bank entitled, “Where are the women?”
In the 307 top listed companies women constituted about 14% of total board membership.
That translates to one woman out of every seven board members.
Countries with the highest percentage of female board members are Kenya(19.8%),Ghana (17.7%),South Africa (17.4%), Botswana and Zambia (16.9%).
Studies by reputable global firms such McKinsey Consultancy have shown that gender and diversity in leadership have become important factors for success.
In Europe, the number of women in executive positions is increasing.
Mungoni said women bring different and complementary perspectives and different leadership styles.
“There is a positive correlation between the proportion of women in Executive Committees/boards and progressive corporate performance,” she said.
“Leveraging on our Director Placement service, to draw attention to members on the IoDZ, WoBZ members are expected to take board vacancies.”
Africa is at 21%.
The continent still has mixed progress; South Africa leads with 32%, Rwanda 26%, Kenya 24% and Botswana 29%.
Various organisations are beginning to consider board diversity and gender balance.