Gender impediments to the South African executive boardroom

The research set out to understand why, despite the fact that the laws have changed and access to equal opportunities is available, there are not more women holding executive positions in corporate South Africa. Our qualitative research indicates that it is not appropriate to think of any one theoretical approach in isolation and sheds light on the challenges facing women in executive positions in South Africa. The paper concludes that the glass ceiling is an effect rather than a cause, and that a wholesale societal shift is required with respect to the concept of empowerment in order for greater equality to be achieved in the workplace. This societal cultural underpinning is what differentiates South African gender issues from those in other countries such as the UK and Canada.