In this first edition of Gender Mainstreaming, we draw on insights from C-suite executives to examine what meaningful progress on gender mainstreaming across South African business truly requires.
A clear pattern emerges: while many organisations have policies and public commitments in place, transformation continues to be constrained by weak implementation, limited accountability, fragmented leadership ownership and insufficient financial investment.
Too often, gender equality is still treated as compliance rather than a strategic, measurable business imperative. We also look beyond individual organisations to the systems shaping outcomes: whether national policy frameworks, public–private partnerships, and commitments to Sustainable Development Goal 5 are delivering tangible change, and whether business and government are sufficiently aligned to accelerate progress.
Persistent barriers
Within organisations, persistent barriers remain – from biased hiring and middle-management resistance to tokenism, weak incentive structures and underfunded transformation efforts. Running through these dynamics is a cultural thread: lasting change depends not only on policy, but also on visible leadership, meaningful male allyship, and the everyday norms that shape organisational life.
The conversation also expands to include safety, mobility, STEM participation and intersectionality, highlighting how exclusion is reinforced by overlapping social and economic barriers. Taken together, these perspectives position gender mainstreaming as a business, governance, cultural and systems challenge – one that demands structural reform, sustained investment and committed leadership.
Tersia Booyzen: Editor
CLICK ON THE COVER TO READ.
