A framework for overcoming impediments towards women’s skills development and career progression – a look at selected South African corporates

Abstract

Topic: A framework for overcoming impediments towards women’s skills development and career progression – a look at selected South African corporates. African countries are still experiencing challenges in achieving gender equality in the workplace. The topic has been increasingly researched in the past century, yet gender discrimination, in terms of skills development and career progression, still continue to be an issue in the workplace. Although legislation, such as the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the Labour Relations Acts, the Basic Conditions of Employment Acts the Skills Development Acts, the Employment Equity Acts, and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Acts, were promulgated to promote gender fairness and address gender inequalities in and out of the workplace, these laws have not achieved their purpose fully because they fail to provide practical solutions to the challenges women face in their skills development and career progression. This research study investigated factors affecting women’s skills development and career progression in selected South African corporates with the aim of providing a framework for overcoming impediments in this regard. The first objective was to determine whether some workplace impediments and support strategies impact the skills development and career progression of women. The second was to determine the link between gender discriminatory practices and women’s skills development and career progression. The third objective was to assess whether women’s skills development is linked to women’s career progression. The fourth objective was to determine the extent to which selected personal factors and family responsibilities impact women’s skills development and their career progression. The last objective was to evaluate the link between gender-related legislation and women’s skills development and career progression. This study was grounded on a few theories. The theory of human capital, the expectancy, goal setting, agency, needs and motivation as well as general systems theories anchored deliberations on employee development. Also, career theories discussed as applicable to this research were work-adjustment, the career motivation and the social cognitive career theories. Given that this study was to advance the course of women, liberal feminism, postmodern feminism and African feminism theories were also considered. The social aspect of this research also warranted reflections on social exchange, social comparison, equity and social learning theories. This research was a cross sectional survey and primarily espoused a quantitative approach. A questionnaire, consisting of both open-ended and closed-ended questions, was self-administered online to 412 women (working in service firms in Johannesburg) sampled through a convenient non-probability sampling method. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the demographic distribution of the sample and central tendency measures. Skewness and Kurtosis coefficients were used to test normality. The maximum likelihood was performed with SPSS AMOS 27 to test the structural model. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) methodology was utilised to represent, test and estimate theoretical models. To assess the measurement model, a confirmatory factors analysis was conducted (i.e., goodness-of-fit, the validity of the measurement model, the reliability and convergent validity, and the statistical evidence of discriminant validity), followed by a structural model analysis Statistical analysis of quantitative data shows that ‘workplace support strategies’ and ‘personal attributes’ were statistically and significantly related to the ‘skills development of women’. also, ‘workplace support strategies’, ‘family responsibilities’, ‘personal attributes’ and ‘skills development of women’ are statistically and significantly related to ‘career progression of women’. Contrarily, the constructs ‘workplace impediments’, ‘family responsibilities’, ‘legislation on gender applicable to the workplace’ and ‘workplace gender discriminatory practices’ had non-significant relationships with ‘skills development of women’. Likewise, ‘workplace impediments’, ‘workplace gender discriminatory practices’ and ‘legislation on gender applicable to the workplace’ had a non-significant effect on the ‘career progression of women’. Open-ended questionions were analysed using a manual thematic content analysis approach. Results show that empowering women, providing development opportunities, availing resources to support skills development, giving rewards, helping women manage their careers and having fair internal systems are vital for women’s skills development. Similarly, providing internal advancement opportunities, facilitating skills development, providing leadership opportunities, offering work-family support, having fair organisational practices at all levels, rewarding performing women and institutionalising mentorship programmes promote women’s career advancement. Likewise, having institutional strategies towards gender equity and avoiding practices that promote male domination, gender-pay disparity, unequal growth opportunities and favour racial groups restrain women’s careers. In addition to organisational support, family support and personal responsibility play a crucial role in women’s skills development and career progression. Although having legislation on gender equity is vital, change will only happen when organisations institutionalise and implement the right policies. This study concludes that when organisations have workplace support strategies in place, women’s skills are more likely to be developed. Also, when women’s skills are developed, they stand a greater chance of ascending the organisational ladder. More so, with adequate family support, women are more likely to progress in their career. In addition, personal responsibility plays a critical role in women’s skills development and their career progression.