Transformation: Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi says SA’s gender equality targets are unprecedented. Picture: Business Day

But public sector makes great strides, writes Margaret Harris.

The glass ceiling may have moved upwards a little, allowing more women into senior positions. But this shift has led to the creation of the stiletto ceiling, where senior women do not go out of their way to increase the number of women in the ranks of companies.

This is the view of Ilse Pienaar, associate publisher of Top Women in Business & Government, which conducts research into representivity of women in SA companies and government organisations.

Pienaar’s view is supported by Colette Clark, deputy director-general for human resources management and development in the Department of Public Service and Administration.

“There is still a long way to go. It is still a male’s world and there are still barriers of access to managerial roles, created by men and women.

The women who get to the top first do not have their arms outstretched to make it easier for other women,” Clark said.

What is the reason for this? “I think it is because they have worked hard to get where they are and must constantly prove themselves. They also may, as women, have a need to please and want to be liked. They don’t want to rock the boat.”

But both women agree that, on the whole, the world of work is easier for women than it was 10 years ago. Pienaar points to the strong push from President Thabo Mbeki to empower women as the reason women appear to be making greater gains in the public sector than the private sector.

According to 2006 figures from national Treasury’s Vulindlela for June 2006, senior women make up 29% of the public service — some way to go to the 50% target and just short of the 30% target for 2005.

In the national assembly, Minister for Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi referred to the transformation initiatives as being “without precedent”.

Pienaar said: “There is a high representation of women in government and women with decision-making power. This creates a ripple effect — the more women you employ, the more women you employ, and so on. Every government department has to have a gender forum to look at issues facing women. Each departmental budget takes female issues into account. There is much more pressure on the public sector to integrate women.”

Clark agreed. “I think it is worse in the private sector — the bottom line needs to be met and it is less accommodating than the public sector. There is no real place for mothers with small kids in the private sector,” she said.

It is often when they become mothers that women begin to feel particularly stretched. The daily challenge of trying to balance the demands of home and work can force women to leave the workplace or choose to stay in less demanding positions. This is borne out by Fraser-Moleketi’s observation that “there is a disproportionate ratio of terminations of women in management relative to total terminations.

The drop-off happens most commonly at senior management levels and indicates that women are leaving [resigning or retiring] or getting stuck at these levels.”

Clark says the gender framework, which is being formulated, will provide guiding strategies to departments on how childcare and flexitime can be incorporated.

She says the framework will also take into account the financial implications of these facilities, allowing managers to give women real choices in terms of their home-life balance.

There may be a long way still to go, but some of the legislation we now take for granted is relatively recent. For example, family responsibility leave was instituted only in 2000 and allows mothers to be with their sick children.

Paid maternity leave for female teachers is also comparatively new. Clark says that until 1993 teachers either had to resign when their babies were born or take a minimal amount of leave.

But sometimes the challenges that women face cannot be fixed by legislation.

Clark said that no formal systems and legislation can improve a bad relationship with your immediate supervisor.

Similarly, an understanding supervisor can give employees the flexibility they need even if formal systems do not exist.

But women don’t always need to be saved; they can face many of these issues themselves.

Pienaar said: “Women should work with men and not against them.

‘‘Women must be themselves and stick to their own personalities — be an individual.”

What do women want at work? Most working mothers want more real choices — many of which fall into the criteria Top Women in Business & Government use when it assesses companies and organisations — childcare facilities, flexitime and extended maternity leave.