Succession planning to ensure gender diversity is not just about filling vacancies. It’s about shaping the future leadership landscape.

Despite the ongoing focus on gender diversity in the workplace, including fair remuneration and representation, the numbers continue to reflect glacial progress at best. According to The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report released last month, closing the gender parity wage gap will take another 134 years. Given the growing calls for gender equity, equality and parity this gap is an indictment of women’s rights.

“Globally, women continue to trail men in various sectors and economies. They represent 42% of the labour force but hold only about 32% of senior leadership positions, according to the report,” says Dr Linda Meyer, leadership expert and MD at IIE Rosebank College.

“In today’s corporate landscape, achieving gender balance remains a pressing challenge. While there’s a growing awareness of the need for diversity, organisations often struggle to translate intent into action. One crucial area where change can be accelerated, is through the appointment of females into vacant leadership roles. To achieve this, organisations must prioritise effective succession planning that grooms and supports female candidates,” she says.

“Organisations must focus on succession planning that actively promotes gender diversity. We simply can’t resign ourselves to the fact that it will take more than a century for women and men to be on equal footing,” Dr Meyer says.

While the WEF report highlights the global gender disparity status quo, the situation in South Africa is equally concerning.

According to a 2022 PWC report, seven of the JSE Top 100 companies were led by female CEOs, and the representation of female CEOs and CFOs across all JSE-listed companies were 8% and 22% respectively. Over the entire executive population of all JSE-listed companies, only 15% were female

Women’s representation in the African Parliament is a mere 26% in 2024. This is worrisome given that policy decisions that positively impact on women and children are tabled and influenced here. Rwanda is faring best at 61% female representation in parliament and Nigeria the worst at under 4%. South Africa however remains underrepresented at 45%. 

“South Africa deserves credit for the tremendous spotlight it shines on the need to achieve gender equality. However, as we get ready to celebrate Women’s Month – and Women’s Day on August 9 – once more, leaders and companies really must start looking at pragmatic ways to effect real change rather than speaking only about the importance of this topic,” Dr Meyer says.

She says many women face career stagnation due to inadequate succession planning, as well as factors like unconscious bias and life events.

Organisations therefore must devise strategies to ensure transformation beyond policies which often remain mostly paper dreams. This can be done by:

Proactively identifying female leaders and high-potential female talent, and then creating a clearer pathway for them to ascend to top roles and equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge.

It is crucial that organisations start early with this process as well.

“Waiting until an executive announces their departure is common practice. However, organisations should begin searching for successors earlier. Women want to join organisations where they feel heard, championed and given equal opportunities, and attracting and retaining top female talent means organisations need to be vocal about their commitment in policy and in practice,” says Dr Meyer.

She says effective succession planning to ensure gender diversity is not just about filling vacancies. It’s about shaping the future leadership landscape.

“As we prepare to celebrate Women’s Month, it’s essential to reflect on the progress we’ve made and the challenges that persist. While strides have been made, we cannot afford to be complacent and have the same conversations year after year, with no meaningful shift in the landscape. We must go beyond ad hoc box-ticking, to consider how we can strategically catalyse deep and lasting change.”