WATCH: 100 Women in Finance launches in SA

When I first started out as a financial journalist with David Gleason in the early 2000s, I remember walking into a boardroom at a large investment bank and sitting down to a meeting with the all-male team and doing a double take.

What happens in corporate finance teams across the country is largely reflective of what happens in boardrooms in companies across the country more broadly. The numbers in the PwC report on Executive directors: Practices and remuneration trends, released in January, showed that 95% of all CEOs on the JSE were male, 87.2% of the CFO were male and 91% of executive directors were male.

A total of just 19 women held executive positions in listed companies on the JSE and only 6% of the 329 CEOs were female.

Pre-2000, there were few women in the finance industry in SA and they were, in the main, relegated to support roles. While the onset of our democracy has opened up opportunities for women to take their rightful place in teams and in corporate SA boardrooms, there is still a long way to go.

Thursday night saw the launch of the local chapter of 100 women in finance in partnership with RMB.

Business Day TV spoke to Amanda Pullinger, CEO of 100WF Global; Emrie Brown, CEO designate at RMB; and Janice Johnston, chair of 100WF SA.

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