Gender transformation appears to be a hot topic in 2024 with an explosion of LinkedIn posts about women trailblazers and a fanfare of colourful coverage of gender inclusivity initiatives. While this spotlight is necessary, it tends to cast a shadow on the reality. Women globally and in South Africa make up less than a quarter of the leadership positions in manufacturing, despite making up half of the graduates leaving universities with qualifications suited to a career in production environments. The more sobering fact is that this trajectory is stagnating at best, declining at worst.
More than ever the qualities that are typically associated with women’s strengths are valued as leadership essentials – in theory anyway. This begs the question as to why women have not made greater inroads into these positions of power. If we want our manufacturing organisations to truly transform, not just through the female faces in company newsletters and corporate reports, but in their underlying value systems, we need to see women participating equally and meaningfully in shaping new forms of leadership.
In my work with leaders, both women and men, from a wide range of diverse organisations, I have had the privilege of hearing their stories and sharing in their development journeys. I listen to the overwhelm experienced by men and women working in the high pressure 24/7 environment of manufacturing, facing a barrage of disruptions and crises on a day to day basis. Equally, I hear about the courageous acts of men and women who despite the odds have demonstrated remarkable resilience to overcome challenges together.
But for most women when it comes to summoning up the courage to say to their male colleague, you have excluded me from that important decision or you have made an inaccurate assumption about me because I am a woman, the fear is crippling. Likewise the courage it takes for men to face their vulnerability, to accept that they do not have everything under control and to turn to women to share power and responsibility remains elusive.
At a time when we need each other more than ever to solve uncommon problems to which there are no easy solutions, the structural and cultural barriers preventing women from participating fully in leadership roles do not make sense. Khavitha Ramdas, the Indian woman representative for Ford Motors, said it well, “We need much less domination and much more imagination to succeed in this twenty-first-century world”.
TWIMS teaches a range of courses focused on the strategic challenges facing the manufacturing sector, including issues such as digitisation, sustainability, supply chain resilience and the need to make the sector more attractive to a younger generation of talent. How do we expect to address these challenges if we stick with the status quo? Departing from the status quo needs courage, imagination and the commitment from both women and men to tackle the leadership challenge of gender transformation together.
Join us for our upcoming Leading Gender Transformation in Manufacturing Short Course
Facilitator: Lisa Kinnear
Date: 4-6 June 2024
Click here to apply
