Companies can do much more to empower women

Source: Supplied. Nita Morgan is the Country Manager for Foundever South Africa.

As business-owners, employers and managers, instead of hand-wringing, we need to ask ourselves what tangible steps we can take to remedy the problem. And, instead of getting paralysed by the scale of the challenge, let’s focus on what all of us can do – in the sectors in which we work – to tackle this inequality.

The Customer Experience (CX) sector offers some hope for addressing the gender employment gap. The CX or Business Process Outsourcing industry has become an important economic contributor over the past few years as a result of the large talent pool of young English-speaking candidates in South Africa.

The industry injects R35bn into the national economy annually and currently employs more than 100,000 people, with the aim of creating half a million jobs by 2030.

Cape Town is fast establishing itself as the leading global CX hub in the country. Within the first three months of this year alone, 4,500 local CX jobs were created in the region in addition to the 70,000 people already employed by the sector in the Western Cape.

Significantly, the local CX sector is a major employer of female personnel. Our company, Foundever, recently opened its first South African office at the V&A Waterfront in June 2023. Since then, we have hired 800 young employees of which 66% are women. Our aim is to create 3,500 career opportunities by 2026, which we hope will serve as a launchpad for hundreds of young women to succeed.

24-hour economy essential

However, like most global CX companies based in Cape Town, the majority of our clients are based overseas, in different time zones. This means our company must operate around the clock with call centre agents expected to work night shifts so they are available to answer calls from overseas customers.

Currently, some of the main challenges preventing women from entering the job market include high levels of crime, lack of safe, reliable transport and limited access to child care. While many South African women encounter these challenges when trying to access day-time jobs, these impediments are even more acute when faced with having to work at night.

This is because many amenities provided during the day, including public transport and child care, come at a premium when offered overnight making it much harder for people to afford these services.

If we want to ensure Cape Town continues to position itself as a leading global CX destination, that offers real career prospects for women, it needs to become a 24-hour economy that addresses the current barriers faced by female employees. The same can be said for a number of other cities across the country.

This needs to include the extension of services that typically only operate during traditional day-time working hours such as reliable public transport, childcare services and supermarkets and ensuring these remain affordable.

Enhanced security measures are also vital to ensure the safety of women, including increased policing at night, and well-lit streets and public spaces. As employers, we need to step up and invest in private security and surveillance systems to keep our female employees safe.

Our company provides transport for all our night shift workers as well as 24/7 security at our office. We provide a number of other amenities aimed at creating a safe, caring and inclusive work environment. This includes a cafeteria and gym area. We will soon also be offering on-site medical assistance for employees. However, much more still needs to be done when it comes to the provision of public amenities so that we create a 24/7 external ecosystem that supports and encourages women to be able to work during the day or night.

Redefine parental leave

Crucially, and many employers don’t want to hear this, empowering women to participate in the labour market requires a more gender neutral approach to parental leave. Since 1997, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act has entitled biological mothers to four months unpaid maternity leave.

Biological fathers were only entitled to three paid days’ of paternity leave, which was extended to 10 days in 2020.

It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but this has only served to enforce the traditional stereotypical gender roles where women are expected to leave their jobs to stay at home and look after their babies, while men are expected to return to work less than a week after the birth of their child.

Fortunately, the Gauteng High Court ruled last year that this provision is unconstitutional because it unfairly discriminates between mothers and fathers. The court ordered that four consecutive months’ parental leave should be available to parents (mothers, fathers, adoptive parents, commissioning parents) who can then decide for themselves how they want to use this four-month period.

Once approved by the Constitutional Court, this landmark decision will enable parents to share the responsibilities of childcare more fairly. Adopting this more progressive approach towards parental leave will foster greater gender equality in the workplace, which will benefit women the most.

Empowering women now

Having started my own career at 18 years old at a call-centre, I have personally experienced how the CX sector can empower women. This is why I am personally committed to helping other women build their careers in the industry. This includes acknowledging and addressing the current challenges faced by women in the workplace and creating a supportive environment for our female employees who are required to work non-traditional hours.

I hope that, over the next few years, the necessary investment in infrastructure and public services is made so that cities across South Africa successfully become 24-hour zones that are safe for women to work in at any time of the day.

This would not only be good for business, but society as a whole. Through driving large-scale social change, we can empower women to participate in the economy, unlocking their full potential and driving economic growth and social progress.