Equal opportunity and affirmative action for South African women: a benefit or barrier?

Abstract

Purpose The paper aims to examine whether the South African government and its corporate organizations have been successful in employing women as professional equals by utilizing them fully in senior and top management positions after equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation was introduced by the democratic government. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive and theoretical paper, and thus secondary data from previous studies are used as comparative analysis for discussions and examinations. Findings Reaching top level positions is still uncommon for South Africa's women, as its corporate environment is not yet ready to accept women as professional equals, resulting in government legislation and policies working against women's growth and advancement instead of working in their favour. Suggestions are made for future studies to investigate what makes women worldwide flourish in government and public sector jobs, but fail in private and corporate sectors. Practical implications Recommends implications for South Africa's corporate organizations to become more women‐sensitive and friendly by empowering women as a group regardless of their race and colour for government policy and legislation to be successful. This area is unexplored, thus making it a new topic. Originality/value This paper may be of value to those professional women who are oblivious to barriers affecting their advancement and to corporate organizations puzzled by the imperceptible upward mobility of women in top management positions despite the implementation of equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation.

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