South Africa is approaching gender parity in senior management. But as the latest Grant Thornton Women in Business research and a recent CIPS leadership discussion make clear, the next chapter of women’s advancement will be defined not by representation alone, but by influence, authority, and the ability to create measurable value, writers Busi Radebe.
South Africa entered Women’s Month with a leadership story that is considerably more encouraging than the global picture. Women now occupy 47.3% of senior management positions in the country, according to the Grant Thornton Women in Business 2026 report. The figure places South Africa well ahead of the global average of 32.9% and among the leading markets for women’s representation in senior leadership. The country has also reached another significant milestone as no South African businesses surveyed reported having an all-male senior management team.
These numbers reflect substantial movement in a business environment where access to economic power has historically been shaped by gender, race, and structural inequality. They demonstrate that the leadership landscape is changing and that women are increasingly occupying positions from which they can influence organisational direction.
Yet the significance of the 47.3% figure lies not only in what it says about how far South Africa has travelled. It lies in what it demands of the next stage of that journey.
Representation can tell us who has entered leadership but cannot, on its own, tell us who is exercising influence.
That distinction is becoming increasingly important as organisations move beyond traditional definitions of diversity and begin to examine the relationship between inclusive leadership and business performance. Grant Thornton’s research argues that the conversation must now move towards ensuring that women have meaningful executive authority and influence in the decisions that shape capital allocation and strategic direction.
This was also evident in the recent Women’s Leadership panel at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Southern Africa Connect & Engage Conference & Awards 2026. Bringing together senior leaders from Ericsson, the South African Reserve Bank, DP World Africa, and Mascom Wireless, the discussion offered a practical view of what women’s leadership looks like inside organisations where procurement has itself evolved from a largely transactional function into a strategic contributor to growth, resilience, governance, and value creation.
The convergence between the CIPS discussion and the Grant Thornton findings is significant. The objective is not to place women in senior positions simply to improve diversity statistics. It is to ensure that capable women are able to exercise the authority that comes with leadership and that organisations benefit from the perspectives, capabilities and commercial value they bring.
This represents an important shift in the business case for gender equality.
From representation to influence
For years, the corporate gender debate has focused on representation. Organisations have measured the number of women on boards, in executive roles and across management structures while governments have tracked employment equity. While these measures matter, representation remains an essential foundation for equality of opportunity. The real measure of progress is influence and women must occupy positions where they shape strategy, allocate resources and make decisions that materially affect the organisation.
South Africa’s leadership data shows both progress and the next challenge. Women hold 56.8% of CFO roles, 55.7% of HR leadership positions, 39.8% of COO roles, and 33% of CIO roles, demonstrating strong representation across key business functions.
The next step is to strengthen pathways from functional leadership into roles with greater enterprise authority, including CEO, board, and technology leadership. This means examining who gets strategic projects, executive exposure, international assignments, and opportunities to build the experience needed for the top leadership roles.
These decisions shape leadership outcomes long before formal succession begins.
As Stella Addo of CIPS noted, women should take opportunities, grow into them, and keep learning. But confidence alone cannot overcome structural barriers.
Organisations must deliberately identify female talent, provide meaningful exposure and create pathways to the commercial experience required for executive leadership.
The business case is becoming harder to ignore
The strongest development in the gender leadership debate is perhaps the growing evidence that inclusion is connected to business performance.
Grant Thornton’s research shows that 92.7% of mid market firms globally have DE&I initiatives in place, while 75.8% remain committed to gender equality initiatives. More than a third plan to introduce new measures and in South Africa, 82.1% of firms are maintaining or introducing gender equality initiatives.
More importantly, the organisations continuing to invest in these measures are reporting strong commercial outcomes. Among businesses that were committed to gender equality and planned to introduce new measures, 73% recorded revenue growth of more than 5% during 2025. Some 56.2% increased staff levels by more than 5% while 48.8% recorded export growth of more than 5%.
The findings do not suggest that gender diversity alone drives growth, but they show a strong association between investment in gender equality and positive business outcomes. Globally, leaders link gender diverse leadership to greater innovation (22.1%), better decision making (19.5%), and improved financial performance (18.8%). In South Africa, 28.8% report improved financial performance.
The message is evidently that gender equality is no longer simply an HR issue. It belongs in boardrooms, strategy, and competitiveness. This is particularly relevant to procurement. The CIPS panel highlighted how procurement has evolved beyond cost reduction to encompass supply chain resilience, governance, risk, stakeholder management, and business strategy. In this environment, leadership capability is as important as technical expertise.
Abosede Olabimtan of Ericsson highlighted women’s contribution to value creation through collaboration and innovation, while Jessica Fourie of the South African Reserve Bank emphasised the need to position procurement as a strategic business partner. Nazeema Dada of DP World Africa stressed that organisations must provide women with strategic opportunities and leadership development, while aspiring leaders must understand value creation, build networks, and lead with integrity. The balance is clearly that organisations must create opportunities while individuals must be prepared to make the most of them.
Women’s advancement should not mean lowering expectations. It should mean ensuring talented women have equal access to the opportunities and experience needed to succeed. Motshidisi Moremi-Motshewa of Mascom Wireless reinforced this principle by arguing that leadership should ultimately be judged by results rather than gender. It shifts the conversation away from defending women’s leadership and towards the contribution leaders make to organisational performance.
Visibility is becoming a competitive advantage
Representation matters beyond those already in leadership because it shapes what future leaders believe is possible. When women see women in positions of authority, leadership becomes more tangible and visible. Grant Thornton identifies this visibility as an important factor in attracting and retaining talent.
The talent market is responding. Grant Thornton found that 91.9% of mid market leaders consider a company’s gender equality initiatives when applying for a new role, with 66.6% regarding them as a priority. Meanwhile, 23% of businesses report that potential hires are asking about gender balance, up 14.3 percentage points from the previous year. For employers, gender equality is therefore becoming both a leadership priority and a competitive advantage in attracting talent.
The relationship between employer and candidate is changing. Organisations are no longer simply assessing talent. Candidates are also assessing whether leadership opportunities are genuine, whether women progress and whether stated values are reflected in leadership structures.
Visible female leadership has therefore become a talent strategy. Women in senior positions can also help strengthen the pipeline through mentorship, sponsorship, and professional development. However, the responsibility cannot rest with women alone. Organisations must build systems that consistently identify, develop, and advance talent. Sustainable leadership pipelines require structures that make progression possible rather than relying on individual women to overcome barriers through resilience alone.
Progress must be protected
South Africa’s strong position should not lead to complacency. Globally, women’s representation in senior management has fallen from 34% to 32.9%, while businesses with all male senior leadership teams have increased from 4.1% to 5.7%.
Meanwhile, 21.9% of mid market firms have relaxed or plan to relax some gender equality initiatives, including in senior leadership.
For South Africa, the priority is to institutionalise progress. While 77.6% of organisations regularly review their DE&I initiatives and 52.9% conduct structured annual reviews, these processes must translate into meaningful action.
Businesses need to understand whether their leadership strategies are producing the outcomes they intended. They need to examine recruitment, promotion, pay, succession, development, and retention as interconnected parts of the leadership pipeline. They also need to be prepared to ask uncomfortable questions about where women are concentrated and where they remain underrepresented.
South Africa’s 47.3% senior management figure is impressive. It becomes more meaningful when women are also moving into the positions where the most consequential decisions are made.
A different definition of success
This is one of the clearest leadership lessons emerging from the research and the CIPS discussion. The next stage of women’s advancement is not about proving that women deserve leadership. It is about building stronger leadership teams by drawing on the widest pool of talent, developing leaders based on capability, and ensuring diverse perspectives shape decisions.
Grant Thornton’s findings support this shift. South Africa has made significant progress in representation but must now connect gender equality to executive influence, measurable commercial impact and leadership accountability. Gender diversity is increasingly linked to competitiveness, governance, investor confidence, and organisational credibility.
That is a far more ambitious vision than simply increasing the number of women in management. It is about changing the quality of leadership itself and recognising that stronger organisations are built when leadership reflects the breadth of talent available in society.
Women’s Month therefore arrives at an important moment for South African business. The country has enough evidence to celebrate the progress that has been made, but also enough evidence to recognise that the work is far from complete.
The 47.3% figure should be treated as a milestone rather than a destination. It shows that structural barriers can be challenged and that leadership can become more representative. It also demonstrates that women are already making their mark across finance, human resources, operations, technology, and procurement.
The task now is to convert representation into lasting influence. That means moving more women into the strategic roles that shape organisations, strengthening succession pipelines, investing in professional development, and making leadership opportunities visible. It also means holding organisations accountable for whether their commitments translate into meaningful outcomes.
Most importantly, it requires a broader understanding of what leadership success looks like. The advancement of women should not be viewed as a concession to equality or a corporate exercise in compliance.
It should be understood as part of building organisations that can compete, innovate, and remain resilient in an increasingly complex economy.
South Africa has already demonstrated that progress is possible. The next challenge is to demonstrate what becomes possible when that progress is accompanied by real authority.
The most meaningful measure of women’s leadership will ultimately not be the number of women occupying senior positions. It will be the decisions they are empowered to make, the organisations they are trusted to transform and the economic value they can create.
It will be measured by whether their presence changes the quality of decisions, broadens the ambition of organisations. and opens pathways for those who follow.
That is what real power beyond representation looks like.
Busi Radebe is the GM of Media at FD Holdings
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