Women in power: the experiences of female administrators at Nelson Mandela bay Metropolitan Municipality
- Authors: Memela, Yoliswa Lourenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Women government executives -- South Africa , Women executives -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9239 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021105
- Description: South Africa is held up internationally as a beacon of good practice in terms of its efforts to promote gender equality and, the increased number of women in leadership positions in all spheres of government is testament to this. The representation of women in all spheres of government is advocated for and promoted by legislation and policies that aim to promote a gender focus on all government procedures and programmes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of women leaders, including their reasons for maintaining leadership positions. It also addressed the challenges these women faced on their journeys and described their definitions of successful leadership based on their experiences. The qualitative nature of the research project made it possible to tell the stories of the participants’ experiences in order to understand their career progression and how it pertained to their concept of leadership. The three participants recruited for the study were women in positions of influence within their municipality including managers, directors, and executive directors. Purposeful sampling was used so that the chosen participants would have experience with the central phenomenon being studied. All of the women contacted to participate in this study readily agreed to share their experiences. There was some level of diversity regarding the age, ethnic backgrounds, and education level of the participants. Semi-structured personal interviews were conducted to collect the data. Open-ended questions were used so the responses of the participants could guide the development of themes and the direction of the study. Once the data were collected through recorded interviews, codes were assigned to sections of the text to help identify themes. A coding table was developed to illustrate how the themes for the discussion emerged from data obtained during the interviews. The stories of the participants were interwoven based on the themes and also analyzed in terms of the existing research. A discussion of the findings incorporated the literature and provided evidence of connected concepts. Strategies including inter-coder agreement, rich description, and clarification of biases were used to strengthen the study’s findings. Ethical issues were addressed throughout each phase of the study. All participants were asked to sign an informed consent form that outlined the procedures of the study. The identity of the participants was kept confidential through the use of pseudonyms.
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- Date Issued: 2013
Factors influencing the advancement of women to senior management positions in the Provincial Treasury, Province of the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Madikiza, Nomvelwano Mavis
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Women government executives -- South Africa , Women executives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8289 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018656
- Description: In 1998 the Department of Labour promulgated the Employment Equity Act, which aimed at ensuring that the designated groups were represented in the workplace at all levels. The designated groups that were to be given preference for appointments were women, disabled and Black people. The Department of Public Service and Administration issued a directive to all government Departments to ensure the achievement of 50/50 gender representation at Senior Management levels by 31 March 2009. However, the Provincial Treasury in the Eastern Cape did not achieve this target and is still lagging behind. There are barriers in the workplace, which pose challenges to the progression of women to management levels. These barriers are commonly referred to as ‘glass ceiling’ by some scholars.This study used a qualitative approach in gathering data. The study employed non- probability, which adopted the purposive sampling approach. Questionnaires were administered to middle management and Senior Managers were interviewed to gather empirical data. Questionnaires were administered to sixty Middle Managers, both males and female, and interviews were conducted with seven senior managers. The reason for targeting Middle Managers was that they are at a level that is next in line in the hierarchy to advance to senior management positions.The purpose of this study was to investigate factors inhibiting the advancement of women to senior management positions in the Provincial Treasury in the Province of the Eastern Cape. The problem identified was that there were numbers of females at middle management who had the required qualifications and experience, but were not considered when appointments were made to fill in vacant senior management posts. The other problem that was identified was that often senior management positions were filled by candidates who were not from within the Department. The performance of female internal candidates is not recognised, which may be indicative of the flaws with the performance management system. It emerged from the empirical survey that preference is given to men compared to their female counterparts. The study revealed that there were factors that contributed to non-advancement of females to senior management such as the existence of stereotypes and perceptions. The stereotypical beliefs view men as hard workers than their female counterparts. It was also revealed that women suffered from low self-esteem that impacted negatively on their confidence levels. This subsequently discouraged women to apply for advertised vacancies as they doubted their own capabilities. It also emerged that the Department did not empower newly appointed persons through the mentoring and coaching programmes. This study also revealed that no training was offered to newly appointed persons.
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- Date Issued: 2012