Power is never given freely – it is demanded, shaped and lived into reality.
This year’s Celebrating Women issue is anchored in the theme “Power Moves: Women shaping systems, shifting cultures and driving South Africa Forward”. It is both a celebration and a challenge: a celebration of the women rewriting the rules of leadership, business and society, and a challenge to a country that still drags its feet on gender equity.
South Africa cannot claim transformation while gender-based violence continues to scar our homes, workplaces and communities. Nor can we speak of progress when women in corporate South Africa remain locked out of the C-suite, when motherhood becomes a punishment in the form of stalled careers, and when unconscious bias and gendered language quietly reinforce exclusionary cultures.
These are uncomfortable truths, but necessary ones.
Author’s summary: Empowering women in South Africa.