If your female boss emasculates you, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror

By LUCIA MABASA

One of the saddest and silent, yet salient, failures of our 30-year journey to transform this country, has been our inability to rid our workplaces and our boardrooms of deep-rooted misogyny.

Far too many women executives must bear the brunt of having to break through the glass ceiling and then continue to justify themselves for getting where there are.

There are too many stories of women managers and executives being gaslit  by their underlings and actively undermined by having their every decision or instruction retro validated by male peers.

It’s an issue that is difficult to deal with because it doesn’t always happen out in the open but instead lurks in different spaces that women are excluded from. But even when it presents as outright misogyny it isn’t any easier to manage.

It’s difficult for a South African woman of colour to have to listen to men justifying their prejudice on the grounds of culture, ethnicity or even religion, when women have been carrying more than their fair share of discrimination for decades, if not centuries, in this country.

Prime Minister JG Strijdom made the same mistake in 1956 when 10 000 women marched to the Union Buildings to fight the repressive pass laws. He was told in no uncertain terms :“Wathint’Abafazi, Wathint’imbokodo (you strike a woman, you strike a rock). 

That spirit burns fiercely in South African women, especially those in executive positions today. It’s a mistake for anyone to think that women leaders cannot rise to the top by keeping their femininity – and their innate humanity - intact. In the world we live in now especially, that’s not a weakness to be able to lead with empathy and kindness, on the contrary it is a vital antidote to the selfishness and populist nationalism that is threatening humanity’s continued existence.

Not all women leaders are kind and empathetic. Some have adopted the worst attributes of the jock culture to fit in, with all the intrigue and backstabbing that goes with it.

It’s not something we need in this country. We do not need to create corporate lives that fuse TV shows and dramas like Survivor and Succession in a battle for survival and the corner office, instead we need to create inclusive environments where merit will always be recognised and rewarded – irrespective of the gender, colour, creed or orientation of the candidate. We need to create a culture where a rising tide lifts all boats.

It makes business sense to do this, but we – as the heirs to the Mandela legacy – have a special debt to the founding parents of this nation and the Constitution that they bequeathed us to continue their work to create a country which belongs to all who live in it and because of that allows everyone the opportunity to unlock their potential.

Anyone who finds fault with this, needs to look within themselves rather and address their own frailties. Culture or religion can never justify bigotry.

People who feel threatened by women leaders need to lean into their vulnerabilities and insecurities and work on them. The path to the C-Suite is predicated on self-improvement and that can only happen when people take a long hard look at themselves and identify their weaknesses and intentionally set about strengthening them.

The buck doesn’t stop there, but right at the top. If we are to have any chance of smashing this last silent barrier, misogyny and sexism must be actively and unequivocally outlawed by the CEOs themselves. There must be consequences for sexism and misogyny, just as there are penalties for racism and homophobia and any other institutionalised intolerance.

South Africa has made incredible strides addressing the gender imbalances on shop floors, in the professions and the managerial classes. We have broken glass ceilings in the boardrooms too, but to paraphrase Madiba, it’s still a long walk to freedom.

Women are engineers, soldiers, sailors, pilots, doctors, surgeons, advocates and attorneys. They drive trains, fly fighter jets and command infantry battalions.

But to do their jobs to their utmost ability they need to be properly respected too, not just given lip service, to be properly empowered.

I am confident that we can, as a nation, do just that.

*Lucia Mabasa is Chief Executive Officer of pinpoint one human resources, a proudly South African black women owned executive search firm. pinpoint one human resources provides executive search solutions in the demand for C suite, specialist and critical skills across industries and functional disciplines, in South Africa and across Africa. Visit www.pinpointone.co.za to find out more or read her previous columns on leadership; avoiding the pitfalls of the boardroom and becoming the best C-suite executive you can be.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.