We’ve seen major change in SA in recent years when it comes to gender equality. But it remains surprising that the boardrooms of SA’s blue-chip companies still stubbornly evolve at a snail’s pace when it comes to equality for women. In a constitutional democracy in 2016, it shouldn’t be like this.While women are increasingly respected as professionals, very few hold leadership roles. This is despite legislation which should have changed this scenario.It’s all the more surprising, given that the international research shows that companies with proper gender diversity on their boards outperform the others which don’t.There’s a clear reason why this should be so. Companies benefit from women’s fresh perspectives through understanding their customers better, and most of these customers are, by implication, women. This means companies with better gender representativity are sharper, and make better decisions.Given the imperative for transformation, as well as the skills shortage in the w...

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