The time has come to draft a corporate reporting standard on gender equality, according to Mervyn King, a South African expert on corporate governance.
He was speaking at the launch of the GBV Impact Research Report held at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) this week.
King said investment bank Citi Group had found that if a company had gender equality comparative payment between males and females in the workplace, this could increase the global gross domestic product by 3 percent, in dollar terms, $3 trillion (R49trl).
"You will create an additional 420 million jobs. The cost to a company that doesn't practice gender equality is eventual compensation against it and reputational damage," he said.
"Every company should report on what they have done for gender quality in the world. People in the capital markets should then make up their minds: do they want to invest long term for their beneficiaries, such as the pension fund," King said.
The purpose of the report is to drive accountability within the private sector and influence GBV (gender-based violence)-related system change and policy-making to contribute toward enabling equal opportunities and empowering women in the workplace.
The research highlights the need for the private sector to address the reality of GBV in the workplace as it formulates company policy and structures of governance.
The report urges private sector companies to adopt and drive real and impactful behavioural change, to launch top-of-mind GBV-related education and awareness programmes, and provide ongoing feedback on progress through Annual Integrated and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting.
The research on the report was led by Professor Corné Davis from the University of Johannesburg in collaboration with Tiekie Barnard, CEO of the Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) and founder of the #ITSNOTOK movement. The research was conducted in partnership with Mid Sweden University and supported by KPMG South Africa.
The report found that, at present, the topic of GBV did not feature in corporate social responsibility or Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment indices, corporate governance specifications, or even occupational health and safety regulations.
"This suggests that GBV is not strategically addressed. During the research, most employees and leaders agreed that GBV should be positioned within company policies and structures of governance and requires a holistic, policy-driven approach using evidence-based interventions involving all relevant sectors," it said.
The report said the private sector was a powerful partner in advancing gender equality at work due to its distinctive position as a catalyst and role model for change.
The report urged business leaders to speak candidly and take action to address GBV and gender equality in the workplace, including providing the necessary support structures.
According to Bonang Mohale, President of Business Unity SA, businesses need to kick down the doors that are closed to women, kick down the proverbial, not glass ceiling, but the corporate ceiling that we have created.
Mohale said it was men that were uncomfortable about being surrounded by good quality women being there for the work that used to be done by men.
"In businesses, society expects men to be directors, presidents, and CEOs, not women. Therefore as a beneficiary of patriarchy, what am I doing to use this positional power that I have to make it easier for women to assume their rightful place in society," he said.
JSE group head of communications Pheliswa Mayekiso said it was unfortunate that there were always the same conversations around gender-based violence over and over again.
"It is a collective responsibility for all of us and individuals and as organisations to create the safe public workspace that we require as women and be an advocate for really meaningful change. I think it is very unfortunate that we continue talking, but the action doesn't happen.
"As citizens of corporate South Africa, it is our duty, and to have the power within our circles of influence to drive and eradicate the heinous attacks around gender-based violence," she said.
The JSE stands with all the other stakeholders on their ongoing initiatives to eradicate gender-based violence, Mayekiso said.
Another speaker, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is a former executive director of UN Women, said gender-based violence was a pandemic that was there before the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It even increased during the pandemic, during the lockdown. It is not responded to comprehensively, it is not prosecuted properly," she said.
Ngcuka said everyone in the community needed to take action.
"We need to do our best to eliminate it. As the report shows us, there is something we can do as employers and as colleagues. In the workplace, we need to make sure that we have policies in place that can be used to both prevent and hold our employees accountable for their behaviour. We cannot be bystanders. We need at the workplace to provide refuge for women, counselling, and medical services. We need to support her," she said.
BUSINESS REPORT