Breaking barriers to female leadership in the South African financial sector

Structural barriers and the notorious 'broken rung' on the corporate ladder – where women are excluded from crucial career opportunities – continue to curtail their ascent, highlighting the need for solutions that tackle the root causes of gender disparities, not just their manifestations.

Research has shown that the biggest obstacle women face in ascending the corporate ladder is the first step up to managerial or principal positions, which is often accompanied by the additional responsibility of having direct reports.

At the core of this issue are talent and performance management systems that often overlook the unique challenges and contributions of female employees. To address this, a radical rethink of these systems is imperative.

This is especially true in the financial services sector, where the latest Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) Report found that females are represented in only 29,4% of top management levels. While not the most disparate sector in SA, the financial services industry is a primary feeder for cross-sectoral executive positions – underscoring the urgent need for innovative strategies that set a precedent for transformative leadership in the country.

Leadership criteria and success metrics must be redefined to value diverse perspectives and experiences. In talent management, this shift necessitates a more inclusive approach to identifying and nurturing potential leaders. Traditional criteria for evaluating employee potential, often biased towards a narrow set of experiences and competencies, must be broadened to include a wider array of skills such as empathy, cross-cultural competence, and collaborative problem-solving. In performance management, there is a need to recalibrate how we assess, recognise, and reward success. Current systems that disproportionately value short-term gains and individual achievements should evolve to reward long-term value creation and team-oriented outcomes.

Mentorship programmes also play a critical role in this redefined ecosystem. These programmes should be explicitly designed to bridge the gap between mid-level positions and senior leadership roles, addressing the unique challenges women face on the corporate ladder, including balancing professional and unavoidable personal commitments.

Retention strategies must align with these new paradigms. It’s not enough to attract and develop talented women; organisations must also create environments where they can thrive and succeed long-term. This means institutionalising flexible work policies, robust support systems for work-life integration, and clear pathways for advancement that recognise and reward diverse leadership styles.

Institutions like Absa have embodied this model, actively increasing the participation of women in the economy while enabling the inclusion of all genders across its employee lifecycle and supplier value chain.

Absa’s succession philosophy has evolved from pipeline management to portfolio-based succession planning, identifying talent across all businesses and functions for various potential future roles and building portable enterprise talent across the franchise. Significant progress has been made in strengthening the succession base for identified ‘ready now’ and ‘ready soon’ (one to two years) and ‘ready later’ (three to five years) succession slates through a data-led approach, enabling effective, individualised successor development.

Internally, Absa has a ‘Banking on Women Committee’ geared towards sustaining greater gender equity, and one of its pivotal functions involves collaborating with various structural units within the Bank to implement tailored programmes that leverage its existing policies and frameworks to identify and support high-potential female employees.

To genuinely support and sustain women’s career progression, institutions must invest in thorough research and develop targeted strategies like these that consider the full spectrum of challenges women face as they climb the corporate ladder and navigate their unique life stages.

*Bakang Letshwiti is Head: Public Sector Coverage at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB). She is also the current Chairperson of the bank’s Banking on Women committee.