As South Africa concludes Women’s month, it is a fitting time to focus on the presence of women in leadership and managerial positions. As of June 2022, data from PERSAL (the government HR management system) indicates that women make up 56 percent of the estimated 1.2 million Public Servants. A closer look at the figures, however, reveals that women representation at higher levels continues to lag behind.
At the Senior Management Service band women only make up only 38 percent of all employees. A similar trend is evident on salary levels 11 and 12, where women are employed in only 47 percent, and 38 percent of all posts respectively.
Interventions such as the 2006 Cabinet Resolution to have 50 percent gender parity at SMS level have sadly not had the required effect, and currently only 19 percent of all appointments at Head of Department or Director General level are female.
While noting that at a country wide level female representation in government is consistently higher than that of the private sector, we are aware that more must be done. We are determined that the public sector must lead the way in implementing gender empowerment and addressing the status quo of male dominated leadership.
This issue is central to the society we are trying to build, and it goes beyond mere statistics. As a society we must arrive at a point where we recognise and indeed value the contribution of women in the public life of the country. History teaches us that women played an instrumental role in the fight against apartheid, and in many cases, women have taken the lead in building a non-patriarchal South Africa.
Progressive policies alone are not enough to ensure women empowerment at the desired levels. Therefore, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is currently reviewing all Public Service Human Resource Management & Development policies. It seeks to ensure that Human Resource transformational policies, yield and maintain a highly skilled; ethical; representative; and developmental Public Service. An essential element in this regard, is to ensure that women recognition and empowerment in the public service is mainstreamed across all levels and spheres of government.
This process will give our country the rare opportunity to take a great leap forward. It gives us a second chance to set the correct tone at the highest levels and to actively drive women empowerment. Leadership at all levels, but especially political leadership and policy makers should take the lead by ensuring that women fill the positions of strategic advisors, Directors General, and Deputy-Directors General. This must in turn be cascaded down to provincial and local government. By acting decisively, we can arrive at a future where the only limit faced by women is the extent of their dreams and ambitions.
Nyiko Mpika Mabunda is the Acting Deputy Director General: Human Resources Management and Development, Department of Public Service and Administration
