Women, do these 3 things to fast-track your success

“Women must not feel apologetic that they cannot be everything to everyone.”

This is the Women’s Month message from Refiloe Seseane, founder of 18twenty8 women empowerment NPO, and winner of the 2010 CEO Magazine South Africa’s Most Influential Women Award. She has also starred in Generations, Rhythm City and The Wild.

“The women of South Africa should be proud of their work ethic, accomplishments, and expertise in prioritising – and by this, I mean ‘juggling’ –  the many tasks they need to tackle each week.”

She says South African women have enough to deal with – patriarchy and gender-based violence, access to business funding and education, and an overload of anxiety – without adding unnecessary guilt to the mix.

She shares these three tips for success:

Get an education – “I believe in the power of education to change women’s lives for the better.”

Apart from ensuring they complete as much formal education as circumstances allow, she urges women to continually improve their skills by committing to lifelong learning.

“Enrol in programmes and courses and read across a range of different topics.”

The power of sisterhood – “Join support networks and mentoring programmes, not only for personal mentorship and support, but to mentor and be part of other women’s support networks. Life experience leads to great lessons for us and others.

Put your well-being first – “Looking after yourself holistically is probably the most important thing you do can. Care for your spiritual, emotional and physical health by pursuing activities that boost wellness. Prayer, fasting, exercise, dissociating from negative people, digital minimalism, and good eating habits do the trick for me, but each individual should find what works best for them.”

Need-to-know facts

5 generations

That is how long it will take to close the global gender gap at the current rate of progress, says the World Economic Forum. Do the maths – that is midway through the next century!

Gender wage gap

SA women receive between 23%–35% less than men for the same work, according to the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report (June 2024). If a marketing executive receives a monthly salary of R30 000, his female counterpart could receive between R23 100 and R19 500. The Commission for Gender Equality’s Women in the SA Economy 2024 report says the pay disparity can be attributed to gender biases and stereotypes, including the perception that women are less competent or committed to their careers.

Female cabinet ministers

Fourteen of the 32 cabinet ministers in South Africa are women (43.75%). This is less than the 50% achieved in 2019, but still better than the global average – just 13 of 190 countries tracked by the UN had women in at least half of ministerial positions at the start of this year.

Madam President

When 2024 dawned, only 27 countries were led by a woman, according to UN Women. Keep an eye on the American presidential election because vice-president Kamala Harris (59) will be taking on Donald Trump after Joe Biden’s withdrawal.

More men in the corner office

Men hold 66.9% of all managerial positions in SA, compared with 33.1% of women, according to Statistics SA (QLFS, Q2:2021).

Women are workers, not employers

More women than men work as unpaid household members and women are less likely to be employers, says Statistics SA. In Q2:2023, only 3.3% of women were employers, compared with 7.5% of men.