As Women’s Month draws to a close in South Africa, it is tempting to treat August as a ceremonial milestone. Yet its origin was anything but symbolic. On 9 August 1956, more than 20,000 women marched peacefully to the Union Buildings to oppose the pass laws. Their courage gave us a refrain that still echoes across generations: “Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo”, translated as “You strike a woman, you strike a rock.” Women’s Month was created to honour that moment and to measure our progress against it. The question for leaders is simple: are we turning commemoration into compounding impact, or letting the gains of one month dissipate over the remaining eleven?
Where we stand now
Globally, we have closed only 68.5 percent of the gender gap across economic participation, education, health and political empowerment. At the current trajectory, full parity will take an estimated 134 years. That is not a glass ceiling. It is a concrete timeline that demands executive attention.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s story is nuanced. The region’s parity score sits around 68 percent, with notable pockets of leadership. Namibia ranks among the global top ten, Rwanda continues to set parliamentary benchmarks, and South Africa reached ministerial parity in 2024. These are not just political optics. Cabinet parity shapes policy signals for the whole economy, including procurement, pay transparency and parental support.
In corporate leadership, progress is steady but fragile. LinkedIn’s global data across 74 countries shows women hold only 30.6 percent of leadership roles as at end 2024, and the hiring rate into leadership has slipped since 2022. That is a pipeline problem, not a talent problem.
South Africa mirrors this pattern. Across the JSE Top 40, women now hold 36 percent of board seats, yet only 23 percent of executive management roles. Executive appointments skew male, which slows the feeder system to C-suite. This is the “broken rung” in action, where women are promoted into first-line management at lower rates than men (Spencer Stuart SA Board Index 2024; Just Share; PwC South Africa ED Report 2024).
Regenesys in action this August
At Regenesys, we made a deliberate choice to turn Women’s Month into a leadership laboratory, not just a calendar entry.
On 8 August, we hosted the Women in Business and Leadership Conference, under the theme Power. Progress. Purpose: Investing in Women to Lead Africa’s Future. Executives, entrepreneurs and change-makers explored how agility, empathy and purpose are reshaping what it means to be a future-fit leader. The discussions went beyond inspiration, offering practical insights into how African women can take their place at the centre of economic and social transformation.
A week later, on 14 August, we launched the School of Education, led by Ms Kamala Pather. The theme Innovate. Integrate. Impact: Shaping Tomorrow with STEM and Business set the tone for the flagship CHE-accredited Bachelor of Education in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Teaching, specialising in Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Business and Management. The programme is open to all genders, but its launch during Women’s Month underscored the vital role education plays in shaping future leaders — and the importance of ensuring women are part of that journey at every level.
Finally, on 21 August, aligned with World Entrepreneurship Day, the School of Entrepreneurship opened under the leadership of Dr Reabetswe Kgoroeadira. The launch included the Womenpreneur Pitch & Match Investment Session, a platform where Africa’s boldest women-led businesses met with investors, mentors and partners. More than an event, it was a marketplace of ideas and capital, where women founders gained access to networks and opportunities often closed to them.
Together, these three milestones turned August 2025 into more than a commemoration of women’s leadership. They showed how institutions can institutionalise women’s progress by pairing words with action, and inspiration with infrastructure.
The economics are compelling
The performance case is settled. Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are more likely to deliver above-average profitability. Newer analysis also shows that boards with the highest gender diversity are 27 percent more likely to outperform the least diverse boards. Diverse leadership teams make better decisions, allocate capital more effectively and innovate faster (McKinsey 2023).
Entrepreneurship tells a similar story of untapped value. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows women’s start-up activity and established ownership rising over the past two decades. Yet women founders in Africa still face a financing gap estimated at 42 billion dollars, constraining scale and job creation. Targeted gender-lens investing and facilities like the African Development Bank’s AFAWA are designed to close that gap.
The lived reality in South Africa’s labour market
Structural headwinds remain. Stats SA’s latest QLFS shows women face higher unemployment than men across education levels. In Q2 2025, the unemployment rate for women was 35.9 percent, compared to 31.0 percent for men. A decade view shows persistent participation gaps too.
International evidence also explains why progress can stall. The Women in the Workplace 2024 study highlights the broken rung at first promotion. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women advance. When the base of the pyramid narrows, senior representation cannot catch up, even if board targets are met.
Turning Celebration into Commitment
Women’s Month should not end with hashtags and panel discussions. If leadership is serious about transformation, the celebrations of August must translate into year-round commitments. That means rethinking promotion pathways so that women are not locked out of first-line management. It means designing flexible work that does not punish those who take it up. It means auditing and closing pay gaps with urgency rather than intention. It means ensuring supplier chains deliberately include women-owned businesses, and that they are paid on time. Above all, it means treating Women’s Month as a launchpad for accountability, not as the finish line of progress.
The women who marched in 1956 did not ask permission to lead. They led, and the country followed. Leadership today requires the same mindset. The data is clear. Gender-balanced leadership is a performance strategy that pays in profit, resilience and reputation. The task for executives is to convert intention into architecture. Fix the rung. Fund the founders. Pay fairly. Promote on merit and potential. Measure it all. Do this consistently and Women’s Month will become a checkpoint on a much longer journey, not a once-a-year destination.
To carry this momentum forward, Regenesys has introduced the HerPotential Entrepreneurship Programme — an intensive course designed for women business owners who are ready to scale their ventures, sharpen their leadership skills, and join a network of bold entrepreneurs shaping Africa’s future.
